PREDATORY ACTIVITY AND SPATIAL STRATEGIES OF EPIXANTHUS-DENTATUS (DECAPODA, OZIIDAE), AN AMBUSH PREDATOR AMONG THE MANGROVES

Kenyan coast, together with laboratory analysis aimed at assessing the natural diet. This xanthoid fed on almost all the slowly moving inver tebrates common in the forest and actively preyed at night, using an a mbush technique. Epixanthus dentatus is faithful to individual dens am ong the roots and to well-defined feeding areas within a 3-m radius, w hich they shared with an average of 2 other individuals. The high dens ity of E. dentatus seemed to affect the behavior of major prey species ; various grapsid crab species reduced their climbing activity during the peak activity periods of E. dentatus. The density of E. dentatus a mong the mangrove roots was determined both by the number of suitable dens, and, more directly, by the density of prey species.