Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T08:20:04.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relative growth and reproduction in Achelous spinicarpus (Crustacea: Portunidae) on the south-eastern continental shelf of Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2012

André L. Pardal-Souza  and
Marcelo A.A. Pinheiro
André L. Pardal-Souza
Affiliation:
UNESP—Univ. Estadual Paulista, Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista (CLP), Grupo de Pesquisa em Biologia de Crustáceos (CRUSTA), Laboratório de Biologia de Crustáceos, Praça Infante Dom Henrique, s/nº, CEP 11330-900, São Vicente, São Paulo, Brazil
Marcelo A.A. Pinheiro*
Affiliation:
UNESP—Univ. Estadual Paulista, Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista (CLP), Grupo de Pesquisa em Biologia de Crustáceos (CRUSTA), Laboratório de Biologia de Crustáceos, Praça Infante Dom Henrique, s/nº, CEP 11330-900, São Vicente, São Paulo, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M.A.A. Pinheiro, Praça Infante Dom Henrique, s/nº-Pq. Bitam, CEP 11.330-900, São Vicente (SP), Brazil email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This investigation aimed to study the relative growth, morphological sexual maturity and fecundity of the swimming crab Achelous spinicarpus in a tropical region, on the south-eastern continental shelf of Brazil (25°S). Biometry of all specimens was conducted, including measurements of the cephalothorax, cheliped, abdomen and gonopods. Relative growth was described based on the equation for allometry (y = axb), and size at sexual maturity was determined from inflections in relations involving the cheliped, gonopods (males), and abdomen (females), as dependent variables, related to the cephalothorax width (independent variable). Fecundity was estimated by the gravimetric method. The relations of the length of the chelar propodus and carpal spine to the carapace width without the lateral spines (CW) showed positive allometry in both sexes, with a significant variation in the constant ‘b’ for males between the developmental stages (juvenile and adult) and the size at maturity estimated at 37 mm CW. In females, the abdomen was most appropriate for the estimate of morphological maturity, which occurred at a smaller size (32 mm CW), with a change in the growth pattern between the stages, passing from isometric (juveniles) to positive allometric (adults). The gonopods also showed different growth rates between developmental stages, in synchrony with the variables of the cheliped. Mean fecundity for the species was 53,984 eggs, with a positive correlation between the number of eggs exteriorized and the size of the female; the equations allowed interconversion between these variables, due to the adjustment of the power function (r2 ≥ 86%).

Keywords

Brachyurafecunditymorphological maturityswimming crab
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , May 2013 , pp. 667 - 674
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abelló, P., Pertierra, J.P. and Reid, D.G. (1990) Sexual size dimorphism, relative growth and handedness in Liocarcinus depurator and Macropipus tuberculatus (Brachyura: Portunidae). Scientia Marina 54, 195–202.Google Scholar
Araújo, M.S.L.C., Negromonte, A.O., Barreto, A.V. and Castiglioni, D.S. (2011) Sexual maturity of the swimming crab Callinectes danae (Crustacea: Portunidae) at the Santa Cruz Channel, a tropical coastal environment. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 92, 287–293. DOI: 10.1017/S0025315411001135.Google Scholar
Baptista-Metri, C., Pinheiro, M.A.A., Blankensteyn, A. and Borzone, C. (2005) Biologia populacional e reprodutiva de Callinectes danae Smith (Crustacea: Portunidae), no Balneário Shangri-lá, Pontal do Paraná, Paraná, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 22, 446–453.Google Scholar
Bas, C.C., Spivak, E.D. and Anger, K. (2007) Seasonal and interpopulational variability in fecundity, egg size, and elemental composition (CHN) of eggs and larvae in a grapsoid crab, Chasmagnathus granulatus . Helgoland Marine Research 61, 225–237.Google Scholar
Bertini, G. and Fransozo, A. (2004) Bathymetric distribution of brachyuran crab (Crustacea, Decapoda) communities on coastal soft bottoms off southeastern Brazil. Marine Ecology Progress Series 279, 193–200.Google Scholar
Bookhout, C.G. and Costlow, J.D. Jr (1974) Larval development of Portunus spinicarpus reared in the laboratory. Bulletin of Marine Science 24, 20–51.Google Scholar
Boolootian, R.A., Giese, A.C., Farmanfarmaian, A. and Tucker, J. (1959) Reproductive cycles of five west coast crabs. Physiological Zoology 32, 213–220.Google Scholar
Braga, A.A., Fransozo, A., Bertini, G. and Fumis, P.B. (2005) Composição e abundância de caranguejos (Decapoda, Brachyura) nas regiões de Ubatuba e Caraguatatuba, litoral norte paulista, Brasil. Biota Neotropica 5, 1–34.Google Scholar
Brante, A., Cifuentes, S., Pörtner, H.O., Arntz, W. and Fernández, M. (2004) Latitudinal comparisons of reproductive traits in five brachyuran species along the Chilean coast. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 77, 15–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brante, A., Fernández, M., Eckerle, L., Mark, F., Pörtner, H.O. and Arntz, W. (2003) Reproductive investment in the crab Cancer setosus along a latitudinal cline: egg production, embryo losses and embryo ventilation. Marine Ecology Progress Series 251, 221–232.Google Scholar
Christy, J.H. (1987) Competitive mating, mate choice and mating associations of brachyuran crabs. Bulletin of Marine Science 41, 177–191.Google Scholar
Colpo, K.D. and Negreiros-Fransozo, M.L. (2003) Reproductive output of Uca vocator (Herbst, 1804) (Brachyura, Ocypodidae) from three subtropical mangroves in Brazil. Crustaceana 76, 1–11.Google Scholar
Costa, T.M. and Negreiros-Fransozo, M.L. (1996) Fecundidade de Callinectes danae Smith, 1869 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Portunidae) na região de Ubatuba (SP), Brasil. Arquivos de Biologia e Tecnologia 39, 393–400.Google Scholar
Costa, T.M. and Negreiros-Fransozo, M.L. (1998) The reproductive cycle of Callinectes danae Smith, 1869 (Decapoda, Portunidae) in the Ubatuba region, Brazil. Crustaceana 71, 615–627.Google Scholar
De Léo, F.C. and Pires-Vanin, M.S. (2006) Benthic megafauna communities under the influence of the South Atlantic Central Water intrusion onto the Brazilian SE shelf: a comparison between an upwelling and a non-upwelling ecosystem. Journal of Marine Systems 60, 268–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diesel, R. and Schuh, M. (1998) Effects of salinity and starvation on larval development of the crabs Armases ricordi and A. roberti (Decapoda: Grapsidae) from Jamaica, with notes on the biology and ecology of adults. Journal of Crustacean Biology 18, 423–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAO–GLOBEFISH (2007) Crab commodity update. Copenhagen: GLOBEFISH databank, 28 pp.Google Scholar
Flores, A. and Negreiros-Fransozo, M.L. (1999) Allometry of the secondary sexual characters of the shore crab Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes, 1850) (Brachyura, Grapsidae). Crustaceana 72, 1051–1066.Google Scholar
Freire, A.S., Pinheiro, M.A.A., Karam-Silva, H. and Teschima, M.M. (2011) Biology of Grapsus grapsus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Brachyura, Grapsidae) in the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, Equatorial Atlantic Ocean. Helgoland Marine Research 65, 263–273.Google Scholar
García-Montes, J.F., Soto, L.A. and Gracia, A. (1988) Cangrejos portúnidos del suroeste del Golfo de México. Aspectos pesqueros y ecológicos. Anales del Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 15, 135–150.Google Scholar
Haefner, P.A. Jr (1985) The biology and exploration of crabs. In Provenzano, A.J. Jr (ed.) The biology of Crustacea: economic aspects: fisheries and culture. New York: Academic Press, pp. 111–116.Google Scholar
Haefner, P.A. Jr (1990) Morphometric growth and size at maturity of Callinectes ornatus (Brachyura: Portunidae) in Bermuda. Bulletin of Marine Science 46, 274–286.Google Scholar
Hancock, M., Hughes, J. and Bunn, S. (1998) Influence of genetic and environmental factors on egg and clutch sizes among populations of Paratya australiensis Kemp (Decapoda: Atyidae) in upland rain-forest streams, south-east Queensland. Oecologia 115, 483–491.Google Scholar
Hartnoll, R.G. (1965) Notes on the marine grapsid crabs of Jamaica. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 176, 113–147.Google Scholar
Hartnoll, R.G. (1969) Mating in the Brachyura. Crustaceana 16, 161–181.Google Scholar
Hartnoll, R.G. (1974) Variation in growth pattern between some secondary sexual characters in crabs (Decapoda, Brachyura). Crustaceana 27, 131–136.Google Scholar
Hartnoll, R.G. (1978) The determination of relative growth in Crustacea. Crustaceana 34, 281–293.Google Scholar
Hartnoll, R.G. (1985) Growth, sexual maturity and reproductive output. In Wenner, A.M. (ed.) Crustacean Issues, 3: factors in adult growth. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema, pp. 101–128.Google Scholar
Hartnoll, R.G. and Gould, P. (1988) Brachyuran life history strategies and the optimization of egg production. In Fincham, A.A. and Rainbow, P.S. (eds) Aspects of decapod crustacean biology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 1–9.Google Scholar
Hattori, G.Y., Sant'Anna, B.S. and Pinheiro, M.A.A. (2006) Meat yield of Callinectes bocourti A. Milne Edwards, 1879 (Crustacea, Portunidae) in Iguape, São Paulo, Brazil. Investigaciones Marinas 34, 231–236.Google Scholar
Hines, A.H. (1982) Allometric constraints and variables of reproductive effort in brachyuran crabs. Marine Biology 69, 309–320.Google Scholar
Hines, A.H. (1988) Fecundity and reproductive output in two species of deep-sea crabs, Geryon fenneri and G. quinquedens (Decapoda: Brachyura). Journal of Crustacean Biology 8, 557–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hines, A.H. (1992) Constraint on reproductive output in brachyuran crabs: pinnotherids test the rule. American Zoologist 32, 503–511.Google Scholar
Holthuis, L.B. (1969) Portunus binoculus, n. sp., a new deep-water swimming crab from the Caribbean region (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura). Bulletin of Marine Science 19, 409–427.Google Scholar
Huxley, J.S. (1950) Relative growth and form transformation. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London B 137, 465–469.Google Scholar
Jivoff, P. and Hines, A. (1998) Female behaviour, sexual competition and mate guarding in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus . Animal Behaviour 55, 589–603.Google Scholar
Lardies, M.A. and Castilla, J.C. (2001) Latitudinal variation in the reproductive biology of the commensal crab Pinnaxodes chilensis (Decapoda: Pinnotheridae) along the Chilean coast. Marine Biology 139, 1125–1133.Google Scholar
Mantelatto, F.L.M. and Fransozo, A. (1997) Fecundity of the crab Callinectes ornatus Ordway, 1863 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Portunidae) from the Ubatuba region, São Paulo, Brazil. Crustaceana 70, 214–226.Google Scholar
Mantelatto, F.L.M., Robles, R. and Felder, D.L. (2007) Molecular phylogeny of the western Atlantic species of the genus Portunus (Crustacea, Brachyura, Portunidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 150, 211–220.Google Scholar
Mantelatto, F.L.M., Robles, R., Schubart, C.D. and Felder, D.L. (2009) Molecular phylogeny of the genus Cronius Stimpson, 1860, with reassignment of C. tumidulus and several American species of Portunus to the genus Achelous De Haan, 1833 (Brachyura: Portunidae). In Martin, J.W., Crandall, K.A. and Felder, D.L. (eds) Crustacean Issues 18: decapod crustacean phylogenetics. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor and Francis/CRC Press, pp. 567–579.Google Scholar
Melo, G.A.S. (1996) Manual de Identificação dos Brachyura (Caranguejos e Siris) do Litoral Brasileiro. São Paulo, SP: Ed. Plêiade/FAPESP, 604 pp.Google Scholar
Morgan, S.G. (1987) Morphological and behavioral antipredatory adaptations of decapod zoeae. Oecologia 73, 393–400.Google Scholar
Muggeo, V.M.R. (2008) Segmented: an R package to fit regression models with broken-line relationships. R News 8, 20–25.Google Scholar
Muiño, R., Fernández, L., González-Gurriáran, E., Freire, J. and Vilar, J.A. (1999) Size at maturity of Liocarcinus depurator (Brachyura: Portunidae): a reproductive and morphometric study. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 79, 295–303.Google Scholar
Pinheiro, M.A.A. and Fransozo, A. (1993) Relative growth of the speckled swimming crab Arenaeus cribrarius (Lamarck, 1818) (Brachyura, Portunidae), near Ubatuba, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Crustaceana 65, 365–376.Google Scholar
Pinheiro, M.A.A. and Fransozo, A. (1998) Sexual maturity of the speckled swimming crab Arenaeus cribrarius (Lamarck, 1818) (Decapoda, Brachyura, Portunidae) in the Ubatuba littoral, São Paulo State, Brazil. Crustaceana 71, 434–452.Google Scholar
Pinheiro, M.A.A. and Fransozo, A. (1999) Reproductive behavior of the swimming crab Arenaeus cribrarius (Lamarck, 1818) (Crustacea, Brachyura, Portunidae) in captivity. Bulletin of Marine Science 64, 243–253.Google Scholar
Pinheiro, M.A.A. and Fransozo, A. (2002) Reproduction of the speckled swimming crab Arenaeus cribrarius (Brachyura: Portunidae) on the Brazilian coast near 23°30′S. Journal of Crustacean Biology 22, 416–428.Google Scholar
Pinheiro, M.A.A. and Hattori, G.Y. (2006) Relative growth of the mangrove crab Ucides cordatus (Linnaeus, 1763) (Crustacea, Brachyura, Ocypodidae) at Iguape, São Paulo, Brazil. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology 49, 813–823.Google Scholar
Pinheiro, M.A.A. and Terceiro, O.S.L. (2000) Fecundity and reproductive output of the speckled swimming crab Arenaeus cribrarius (Lamarck, 1818) (Brachyura, Portunidae). Crustaceana 73, 1121–1137.Google Scholar
Pires, A.M.S. (1992) Structure and dynamics of benthic megafauna on the continental-shelf offshore of Ubatuba, southeastern Brazil. Marine Ecology Progress Series 86, 63–76.Google Scholar
Puentes, L.G., Campos, N.H. and Reyes, R. (1990) Decápodos de fondos blandos hallados en el área comprendida entre Pozos Colorados y la Bahía de Taganga, Caribe colombiano. Boletín Ecotrópica 23, 31–41.Google Scholar
R Development Core Team (2011) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. ISBN 3-900051-07-0, URL http://www.R-project.org/ Google Scholar
Rasheed, S. and Mustaquim, J. (2010) Size at sexual maturity, breeding season and fecundity of three-spot swimming crab Portunus sanguinolentus (Herbst, 1783) (Decapoda, Brachyura, Portunidae) occurring in the coastal waters of Karachi, Pakistan. Fisheries Research 103, 56–62.Google Scholar
Reid, D.M. and Corey, S. (1991) Comparative fecundity of decapod crustaceans, II. the fecundity of fifteen species of anomuran and brachyuran crabs. Crustaceana 61, 175–189.Google Scholar
Santos, S. and Negreiros-Fransozo, M.L. (1998) Fecundity in Portunus spinimanus Latreille, 1819 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Portunidae) from Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brazil. Interciencia 22, 259–263.Google Scholar
Sanvicente-Anõrve, L., Gómez-Ponce, A., Vázquez-Bader, A.R. and Gracia, A. (2008) Morphometry and relative growth of the swimming crab, Portunus spinicarpus (Stimpson, 1871) from the southern Gulf of Mexico. Crustaceana 81, 329–339.Google Scholar
Sartor, S.M. (1989) Composição e distribuição dos Brachyura (Crustacea, Decapoda), no litoral norte do Estado de São Paulo. PhD thesis. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.Google Scholar
Sastry, A.N. (1983) Ecological aspects of reproduction. In Vernberg, F.J. and Vernberg, W.D. (eds) The biology of Crustacea: environmental adaptations. New York: Academic Press, pp. 179–270.Google Scholar
Schuh, M. and Diesel, R. (1995) Effects of salinity, temperature, and starvation on the larval development of Armases (= Sesarma) miersii (Rathbun, 1897), a semiterrestrial crab with abbreviated development (Decapoda: Grapsidae). Journal of Crustacean Biology 15, 205–213.Google Scholar
Severino-Rodrigues, E., Guerra, D.S.F. and Graça-Lopes, R. (2002) Carcinofauna acompanhante da pesca dirigida ao camarão-sete-barbas (Xiphopenaeus kroyeri) desembarcada na praia do Perequê, Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Boletim do Instituto de Pesca 28, 33–48.Google Scholar
Severino-Rodrigues, E., Hebling, N.J. and Graça-Lopes, R. (2007) Biodiversidade no produto da pesca de arrasto-de-fundo dirigida ao lagostim, Metanephrops rubellus (Moreira, 1903), desembarcado no litoral do estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Boletim do Instituto de Pesca 33, 171–182.Google Scholar
Van Engel, W.A. (1958) The blue crab and its fishery in Chesapeake Bay. Part 1—reproduction, early development, growth and migration. Commercial Fisheries Review 20, 6–17.Google Scholar
Williams, A.B. (1984) Shrimps, lobsters and crabs of the Atlantic coast of the eastern United States, Maine to Florida. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 550 pp.Google Scholar
Zar, J.H. (1996) Biostatistical analysis. 3rd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 662 pp.Google Scholar