Relative growth and morphological sexual maturity of the crab Hepatus pudibundus (Herbst, 1785) (Decapoda: Aethridae) in southeast Brazil

ABSTRACT

The crab Hepatus pudibundus is a bycatch of the shrimp fishing industry, and despite having no commercial value, it is impacted by fishing activities. In this way, research about relative growth and sexual maturity can help to understand the life cycle of fisheries-affected species. Thus, the present study aimed to estimate morphological sexual maturity (MSM) and analyse the relative growth of a population of H. pudibundus. For morphometric analysis and MSM estimate, the following structures were measured: the carapace (CW) and abdomen width (AW), the left and right cheliped propodus length (LPL and RPL) and height (LPH and RPH) for both sexes, and the gonopodium length (GL) for males. No heterochely was observed for both sexes, but the propodus dimensions showed sexual dimorphism. Males attain MSM at 44.71 mm CW and females at 41.87 mm CW. Males and females showed higher growth rates in GL and AW, respectively, in the juvenile stage, suggesting a greater investment in the development of secondary sexual characteristics before MSM. The present study provides information on the growth pattern of the species, which is significant to the community structure of fishing areas and serves as a parameter for evaluating protective measures that have been implemented.

KEYWORDS:

• Allometry
• Brachyura
• ontogeny
• reproduction

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the staff of the Laboratório de Camarões Marinhos e de Água Doce (LABCAM) for assistance in fieldwork. This work was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP under Grants: BIOTA INTERCRUSTA 2018/13685-5 and 2019/01308-5). MSJ, GVMRG, CSN and JFP would like to thank the master and doctoral scholarships provided by the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and São Paulo Research Foundation (88887.677723/2022-00; 88887.604989/2021-00; 2019/00661-3; 2019/01308-5). RCC thanks the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq; Research Scholarship PQ 306672/2018-9).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07924259.2022.2142485

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the CAPES [88887.604989/2021-00, 88887.677723/2022-00]; CNPQ [306672/2018-9]; São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [2018/13685-5, 2019/00661-3, 2019/01308-5].