Abstract

This study contains results of research on the response of the crayfish, Procambarus mexicanus, to the presence of corn seeds, Zea mays, under laboratory conditions. The crayfish were observed using the focal sampling method for two hours every seven days over the course of a year. Their response included a basic sequence of patterns that can be categorised into the following stages: 1) alert, 2) searching, 3) grabbing the corn, 4) rotating and husking the corn, and 5) ingesting the kernel’s apex. This basic sequence is linear in the first series and, thereafter, becomes cyclical when it is reproduced, moving repeatedly between the second, third, and fourth stages. Most of the crayfish only nibbled the corn in the first consumption sequence. The complete consumption of the seed generally occurred in the second consumption sequence, very rarely in the third sequence, and in the fourth sequence only three animals completely consumed the seed apex. The averages of the three velocities with which the crayfish moved toward the corn kernels in the sequences 1, 2, and 3, are statistically different. Also, statistical data concerning frequencies and duration of the behavioural consumption patterns are presented in this paper.

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