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Relative growth and morphological sexual maturity of Uca cumulanta (Crustacea: Decapoda: Ocypodidae) from a tropical Brazilian mangrove population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2008

Bruno Gabriel Nunes Pralon  and
Maria Lucia Negreiros-Fransozo
Bruno Gabriel Nunes Pralon
Affiliation:
NEBECC (Group of Studies on Crustaceans Biology, Ecology and Culture), Departamento de Zoologia, IBB, C. P. 510, UNESP, 18618-000, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brasil
Maria Lucia Negreiros-Fransozo*
Affiliation:
NEBECC (Group of Studies on Crustaceans Biology, Ecology and Culture), Departamento de Zoologia, IBB, C. P. 510, UNESP, 18618-000, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brasil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M.L. Negreiros-Fransozo NEBECC (Group of Studies on Crustaceans Biology Ecology and Culture) Departamento de Zoologia IBB, C. P. 510 UNESP, 18618-000 Botucatu São PauloBrasil email: mlnf@ibb.unesp.br
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Abstract

The relative growth of the fiddler crab Uca cumulanta was studied, primarily to determine the size at the onset of sexual maturity for a mangrove population in the estuary of the Patitiba River, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. The evaluation of the morphological sexual maturity of U. cumulanta was performed using the allometric technique. The relationships that most precisely indicated the size at onset of sexual maturity were carapace length (CL) vs propodus length for males and CL vs abdomen width for females. Males and females are mature at 5.25 and 4.75 mm CL, respectively. The remarkable ontogenetic changes observed in the allometric growth of the male major cheliped and the female abdomen, indicate that growth of these structures is closely connected to the timing of sexual maturity. The relative size at onset maturity obtained for this species was 0.68 and this index was compared to that seen in other species in the genus.

Keywords

allometryfiddler crabgrowthsouth-west Atlantic coast
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 88 , Issue 3 , May 2008 , pp. 569 - 574
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

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