MORPHOLOGICAL MATURITY OF THE KNOBBED SPIDER CRAB LEUROCYCLUS TUBERCULOSUS (H. MILNE EDWARDS & LUCAS, 1842) (MAJIDAE, BRACHYURA) IN THE NORTHERN PATAGONIAN GULFS.

BARÓN P.; QUIROGA P. ; LEAL G.; GONZÁLEZ PISANI X.

CRUSTACEANA

BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS

Año: 2009 vol. 82 p. 267 - 273

0011-216X

Sexual maturation in brachyurans has three different components: physiological, morphological,and functional. The second is visualized by examining changes in the morphometric relationshipsbetween some dimensions of the organs involved in mating and egg incubation, relative toa standard measure of size. Aiming to establish the size at morphological maturity for thePatagonian knobbed spider crab, Leurocyclus tuberculosus, a morphometric analysis was conductedon specimens sampled in the northern Patagonian gulfs (41◦-43◦S). Discontinuities were detected inln transformed relationships of abdomen width on carapace width of females, and right chela lengthon carapace width of males. For females, estimated CWmorph50% (carapace width at which 50%of the individuals attains morphometric maturity) was 47.9 mm, and CW of the smallest ovigerousfemale observed in the samples was 42.7 mm. For males, a change in the growth rate of ln(ChL)relative to ln(CW) was detected at 48.9 mm CW.