Preference for Shelters at Different Developmental Stages of Chinese Mitten Crab ().

A shelter is a good habitat for aquatic organisms, which could aid in avoiding cannibalism and facilitate predation. Chinese Mitten Crab () is an important aquaculture species with troglodytism and nocturnal habit. To clarify the preference for shelters at different developmental stages of , different shelters (mud, sand, grass and rocks) were selected for comparison. These results indicated that juvenile crabs had a significant preference for grass; button-sized crabs preferred to hide in mud; and the favorite shelters for parent crabs were rocks, followed by mud. in three stages all showed concealing behavior. The concealing behavior of juvenile crabs was the most significant, followed by button-sized and parent crabs. Additionally, held a low hiding rate at night but a high hiding rate during the daytime due to nocturnal habits. These findings will help to better understand the habits of and provide a reference for resource restoration, habitat construction and the restoration of .