Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T06:27:59.144Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Occurrence of shell disease and carapace abnormalities on natural population of Neohelice granulata (Crustacea: Varunidae) from a tropical mangrove forest, Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Rafael Augusto Gregati*
Affiliation:
NEBECC (Group of Studies on Crustacean Biology, Ecology and Culture), Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brazil
Maria Lucia Negreiros-Fransozo
Affiliation:
NEBECC (Group of Studies on Crustacean Biology, Ecology and Culture), Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Rafael Augusto Gregati, NEBECC (Group of Studies on Crustacean Biology Ecology and Culture), Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brazil email: biogregati@hotmail.com
Get access

Abstract

In this note, we registered the occurrence of shell diseases and carapace abnormalities in a natural population of Neohelice granulata from a tropical mangrove forest, in South America, as a part of a wide ecological study. The occurrence of 32 adult crabs (1.77%) with black or brown spotted shells, or deformities on the carapace was registered, collected in the autumn and winter seasons. The low prevalence of shell diseases and abnormalities in this natural population is considered normal and probably caused by injuries occurring during the moult period of crabs.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abraham, T.J. and Manley, R. (1995) Luminous and non-luminous Vibrio harveyi associated with shell disease in cultured Penaeus indicus. Journal of Aquaculture in the Tropics 10, 273276.Google Scholar
Aguado, N. and Bashirullah, A.K.M. (1996) Shell diseases in wild penaeid shrimps in the eastern region of Venezuela. Journal of Aquariculture and Aquatic Sciences 8, 36.Google Scholar
Alderman, D.J. (1981) Fusarium solani causing an exoskeletal pathology in cultured lobsters, Homarus vulgaris. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 76, 2527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benneti, A.S. and Negreiros-Fransozo, M.L. (2003) Symmetric chelipeds in males of the fiddler crab Uca burgersi Holthuis, 1967 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Ocypodidae). Nauplius 11, 141144.Google Scholar
Cook, D.K. and Lofton, S.R. (1973) Chitinoclastic bacteria associated with shell disease in Penaeus shrimp and the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus). Journal of Wildlife Diseases 9, 154159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hameed, A.S.S. (1994) Experimental transmission and histopathology of brown spot disease in shrimp (Penaeus indicus) and lobster (Panulirus homarus). Journal of Aquaculture in the Tropics 9, 311321.Google Scholar
Iribarne, O.O. and Martinez, M.M. (1995) Predation on the south-western Atlantic fiddler crab (Uca uruguayensis) by migratory shorebirds (Pluvialis dominica, P. squatarola, Arenaria interpres, and Numenius phaeopus). Estuaries 22, 4754.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, P.T. (1983) Diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, rickettsia, and fungi. In Provenzano, A.J. (ed.) The biology of Crustacea. New York: Academic Press, pp. 178.Google Scholar
Lawler, A.R. and Willard, A.V. (1973) Triple regeneration of the fifth pereiopod of a blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun. Chesapeake Science 14, 144145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luppi, T.A., Spivak, E.D. and Anger, K. (2001) Experimental studies on predation and cannibalism of the settlers of Chasmagnthus granulata and Cyrtograpsus angulatus (Brachyura: Grapsidae). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 265, 2948.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malloy, S.C. (1978) Bacteria induced shell disease of lobsters (Homarus americanus). Journal of Wildlife Diseases 14, 210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mantellato, F.L.M., O'Brien, J.J. and Alvarez, F. (2000) The first record of external abnormalities on abdomens of Callinectes ornatus (Portunidae) from Ubatuba Bay, Brazil. Nauplius 8, 9397.Google Scholar
Melo, G.A.S. (1996) Manual de identificação dos Brachyura (caranguejos e siris) do litoral brasileiro, 1st edn. São Paulo: Editora Plêiade.Google Scholar
Moncada, F.G. and Gomes, O. (1980) Algunos aspectos biológicos de tres especies del género Callinectes (Crustacea, Decapoda). Revista Cubana de Investigación Pesquera 5, 135.Google Scholar
Morgan, T.H. (1923) The development of asymmetry in the fiddler crab. American Naturalist 57, 269274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noga, E.J., Smolowitz, R. and Khoo, L.H. (2000) Pathology of shell disease in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, (Decapoda: Portunidae). Journal of Fish Diseases 23, 389399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prince, D.L., Bayer, R.C. and Loughlin, M. (1993) Etiology and microscopy of shell disease in impounded American lobsters, Homarus americanus. Bulletin of the Aquaculture Association of Canada 93, 8789.Google Scholar
Rosen, B. (1970) Shell disease of aquatic crustaceans. American Fisheries Society, Washington, Special Publication no. 5: a Symposium on Diseases of Fishes and Shellfishes, pp. 409415.Google Scholar
Shuster, C.N. Jr, Hulmer, D.B. Jr and Van Engel, W.A. (1963) A commentary on claw deformities in the blue crab. Estuarine Bulletin 7, 1523.Google Scholar
Sindermann, C.J. (1989) The shell disease syndrome in marine crustaceans. Woods Hole, MA: NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-F/NEC.Google Scholar
Sindermann, C.J. and Lightner, D.F. (1988) Disease diagnosis and control in North American marine aquaculture. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Spivak, E.D., Anger, K., Luppi, T., Bas, C. and Ismael, D. (1994) Distribution and habitat preferences of two grapsid crab species in Mar Chiquita Lagoon (Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina). Helgoländer Meeresunters 48, 5978.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, J.S. and Pearce, J.B. (1975) Shell disease in crabs and lobsters from New York Bight. Marine Pollution Bulletin 6, 101105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziskowski, J., Spallone, R., Kapareiko, D., Robohm, R., Calabrese, A. and Pereira, J. (1996) Shell disease in American lobster (Homarus americanus) in the offshore, north-west Atlantic region around 106-mile sewage-sludge disposal site. Journal of Marine Environmental Engineering 3, 247271.Google Scholar
Zou, E. and Fingerman, M. (2000) External features of an intersex fiddler crab, Uca pugilator (Bosc, 1802) (Decapoda, Brachyura). Crustaceana 73, 417423.Google Scholar