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Comparison of body size, relative growth and size at onset sexual maturity of Uca uruguayensis (Crustacea: Decapoda: Ocypodidae) from different latitudes in the south-western Atlantic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2012

Gustavo Luis Hirose ,
Vivian Fransozo ,
Carolina Tropea ,
Laura S. López-Greco  and
Maria Lucia Negreiros-Fransozo
Gustavo Luis Hirose
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, SE, Brazil
Vivian Fransozo
Affiliation:
Instituto Federal Baiano, Campus de Santa Inês, Santa Inês, BA, Brazil
Carolina Tropea
Affiliation:
Biology of Reproduction and Growth in Crustaceans, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, FCEN, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina IBBEA–CONICET, Argentina
Laura S. López-Greco
Affiliation:
Biology of Reproduction and Growth in Crustaceans, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, FCEN, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina IBBEA–CONICET, Argentina
Maria Lucia Negreiros-Fransozo*
Affiliation:
NEBECC, Departamento de Zoologia, IBB, UNESP, Botucatu, SP, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M.L. Negreiros-Fransozo, NEBECC, Departamento de Zoologia, IBB, UNESP, Botucatu, SP, Brazil email: mlnf@ibb.unesp.br
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Abstract

Some crustaceans show variations of their reproductive biology within their geographical distribution, and knowledge about such variations is important for the comprehension of their reproductive adaptations. This study compared two populations of the fiddler crab Uca uruguayensis from two locations on the south-western Atlantic coast: Ubatuba Bay, São Paulo, Brazil and Samborombón Bay, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The population features analysed were the body size variation (carapace width = CW) and the size at the onset of sexual maturity (SOM) in order to test the hypothesis that the size at SOM, should be the same in relative terms (RSOM), independently of the latitudinal position. In the Brazilian population the CW ranged from 4.18 to 11.60 mm for males and 3.90 to 9.80 mm for females, and in the Argentinean population from 3.60 to 14.10 mm for males and 2.85 to 12.00 mm for females. In the Brazilian population the SOM was 7.1 (RSOM = 0.58) and 5.9 mm CW (RSOM = 0.57) for males and females, respectively, and in the Argentinean population it was 7.0 (RSOM = 0.42) and 6.75 mm CW (RSOM = 0.53) for males and females, respectively. This fact is probably related to a great plasticity in the life history features of Uca uruguayensis under different environmental conditions.

Keywords

latitudinalvariationfiddler crabcrab sizeallometryBrazilArgentina
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , May 2013 , pp. 781 - 788
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

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