The intertidal snail Nucella lapillus generally has thicker shells at sites sheltered from wave action, where crabs are abundant and pose a high risk of predation, than at exposed sites where crabs are rare. We studied two populations showing the opposite trend. We reciprocally transplanted snails between field sites and measured shell length, width and lip thickness of those recaptured 12 mont...

Abundance patterns of the hermit crab Pagurus maclaughlinae and its gastropod shell resources were compared to one another across the shallow subtidal landscape within Tampa Bay, Florida at a landscape (4.88 ha) and a sub-landscape (1 m2) scale. Specifically, we investigated whether the spatial abundance patterns of P. maclaughlinae over time could be explained by the abundance patterns of eith...

Acidic macromolecules, as a nucleation factor for mollusc shell formation, are a major focus of research. It remains unclear, however, whether acidic macromolecules are present only in calcified shell organic matrices, and which acidic macromolecules are crucial for the nucleation process by binding to chitin as structural components. To clarify these questions, we applied 2D gel electrophoresi...

Chitin is one of the most common polysaccharides and abundant in cell walls fungi shells insects aquatic organisms as a skeleton. The mechanism how chitin responds to pH essential precise control brewing design smart materials. However, this molecular remains mystery. Results from single-molecule studies, including force spectroscopy (SMFS), AFM imaging, dynamic (MD) simulations, have shown tha...

Anatomy and cnidae distinguish two species of deep-sea actinians that produce coiled, chitinous shells inhabited by hermit crabs of the genus Parapagurus. The actinian type species, Stylobates aeneus, first assigned to the Mollusca, occurs around Hawaii and Guam with P. dofleini. Stylobates cancrisocia, originally described as Isadamsia cancrisocia, occurs off east Africa with P. trispinosus. p...

Crab-shell chitin (SC-20) was evaluated for its ability to enhance biological denitrification in bench-scale tests. In the presence of SC-20, highly reducing conditions were generated, supporting both denitrification and sulfate reduction of aerated water. Rapid degradation of protein in SC-20 was observed to cause an initial high release of ammonium and carbon, while a slower, continuous relea...

Crab shell particles were tested for its ability to remove Zn 2+ ions from aqueous solution and were evaluated in a batch reactor and in a fixed-bed column. The binding of Zn 2+ ions by crab shell was found to be affected significantly by pH, with maximum sorption capacity 71.46 mg/g observed at pH 4.5. The sorption isotherm of Zn 2+ ions on crab shell particles was modeled on the application o...

Horseshoe crabs have been a model for many biomedical science studies. Medicinal value of horseshoe crabs comes from its blue blood, eye and exoskeleton (chitin). Ability of blood to clot in the presence of bacteria, rendering the bacteria harmless has created its biomedical importance. Blood cells (amebocytes) carry Factor C, which binds lipopolysaccharide (LPS), undergoes a structural reorgan...

Urocanic acid is a major ultraviolet (UV)-absorbing chromophore. Chitins are highly crystalline structures that are found predominantly in crustacean shells. Alpha-chitin consists of microfibers that contain nanofibrils embedded in a protein matrix. Acid hydrolysis is a common method used to prepare chitin nanofibrils (NFs). We typically obtain NFs by hydrolyzing chitin with acetic acid. Howeve...