Meat yield in the South American stone crab Platyxanthus patagonicus.

LEAL, G.A., J.B. DIMA & P.J. BARÓN

Coquimbo-La Serena, Chile

Jornada; The Crustacean Society Mid Year Meeting; 2007

Like others stone crabs such as Menippe mercenaria and Homalaspis plana, the Patagonian stone crab Platyxanthus patagonicus has conspicuously large chelipeds that confer the species a particular potential for commercial exploitation. Since managements rules for this an others king of fishing resource should be focus not only in regulating the attractive activity but also must point out to an optimal yield at processing, it was recognized that information in crab meat yield in relation to size and sex may represent useful information. Aiming to provide a meat yield analysis for P.patagonicus, a total of 115 P.patagonicus individuals (56 females and 59 males) were capture with baited traps and by SCUBA diving in water of Atlantic coast of northern Patagonia. Specimens were size and measured, and after carapace and glandular and reproductive tissue removal, individually boiled in salty water for 25 minutes in a pressure cocker and subsequently dipped in ice water before meat manual extraction. Meat from the chelipeds and sternal insertion of the walking legs in the body was remove separately and weight at 0, 01 g  in a mettler scale. Average (+- standard deviation) fresh meat yield (as percentage of fresh meat relative to total weight) was 24.4+-8,5%. Meat yield was lower in females (18,25+-4,4%)than in males (30,15+-7.3%). In the last meat content of the clelipeds represented 70% of total meat content. Meat yield increased with size of the crab. Results of this work are being used in the design of an economic processing line for small enterprises in Patagonia.