COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE REPRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL OF UCA VOCATOR (HERBST, 1804) IN THREE SUBTROPICAL MANGROVES

COLPO KARINE; NEGREIROS-FRANSOZO MARIA LUCIA

MELBOURNE - AUSTRALIA

Congreso; FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CRUSTACEAN CONGRESS; 2001

The brachyuran crabs of the genus Uca, commonly known as fiddler crabs, are very abundant in  the South American mangroves, living in burrows built in the sediment and feeding on its organicmatter.The reproductive biology of U. vocator was investigated in three Brazilian mangroves: Itapanhau (23 49´14"S, 46 09´14"W), Indaia. (23 24´51"S, 45 03´14"W) and ltamambuca (23°24´43"S, 45 00´73"W). The aspects analyzed were fecundity, sexual maturity and size of ovigerous females. The crabs were captured during low tide by two collectors for 15 minutes. Organic mailer content of the sediment from each locality was determined. The morphometric measures of each crab were: carapace width (CW), cheliped propodus length (CPL) and abdomen width (AW). Organic matter amount and size of ovigerous crabs increase from ltapanhau to ltamambuca, being E intermediate in Indaia.. Uca vocator presented variation in the size of onset sexual maturity and fecundily index in function of food availability in each mangrove, evidencing the reproductive potential is closely related to nutritional resources of the habitat.