Costly claw muscle raises male fiddler crab resting metabolism nearly twenty percent

Evidence

Resting metabolic rates of males with big claws are almost 20 percent higher than those of females (who lack enlarged claws) simply because of the costly muscles inside the claw. Waving the claw around or using it to fight is even more expensive, and the bigger the claw, the steeper the energetic costs. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 303

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Even resting male crabs pay high energy costs for big claw muscles; Fiddler crabs have the largest relative weapons yet rarely fight; Waving a fiddler crab claw raises blood lactate measurably. (+1 more)

Related

• Even resting male crabs pay high energy costs for big claw muscles (similarity 0.97)
• Waving a fiddler crab claw raises blood lactate measurably. (similarity 0.95)
• Fiddler crabs have the largest relative weapons yet rarely fight (similarity 0.90)
• Waving a fiddler crab claw incurs measurable energetic costs (similarity 0.89)
• Fiddler crabs use their oversized claws far more as signals than as weapons (similarity 0.87)
• Fiddler crabs assess rival claw size and only approach equally-matched opponents. (similarity 0.84)
• Weapon size honestly signals fighting ability because growth tracks health and nutrition (similarity 0.82)
• Sexual weapons sometimes protect rather than burden their bearers from predators (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Waving a fiddler crab claw incurs measurable energetic costs #expands (0.80) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 767