Crustacean visual communication

In crustaceans, communication is mainly through the visual, chemical, and mechanical channels (see e.g., Mead and Caldwell, Chap. 11 Christy and Rittschof, Chap. 16 Clayton 2008). Whereas visual communication is mainly limited to species from terrestrial and clear-water environments, chemical communication can occur under most environmental conditions. Not surprisingly, studies on chemical communication dominate the literature. Of a total of 76 publications on crustacean communication (with the keywords communicat and Crustacea ) published between 1990 and 2010, 43 were on chemical communication, 24 on visual communication, and only 9 on mechanical/acoustic communication (Web of Science 2010). 

Deception in crustacean chemical communication has not yet been detected. This mode of communication may most often involve the transfer of cues that are byproducts of essential biochemical processes and that cannot be faked. Yet, we see no reason, based on first principals, why deception via the withholding and directed release of such cues should be rare. But we also acknowledge that detecting such deception will be very difficult. Techniques to monitor and visualize the production and release of chemicals by senders and the detection of and responses to them by receivers under both seminatural and experimental conditions have just begun to be used to study signaling in aggressive contexts in lobsters and crayfish. 

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