During monthly samplings between September 1998 and August 2000, 3,660 specimens of Ucides cordatus (Linnaeus, 1763) (2054 males and 1606 females) we

A total of 2,130 individuals of Ucides cordatus (1,255 males and 875 females) were captured in a mangrove forest at Iguape, São Paulo, Brazil. For each crab, the following body structures were measured: carapace (width = CW; length = CL; depth = CD), 5th abdominal somite (AW), major chelar propodus (length = PL; width = PW; depth = PD), and 1st and 2nd gonopod pairs (length = GL1 and GL2). The Student "t" and Snedecor "F" tests were used to verify any changes in growth allometric rates during ontogeny. The relationships CLxCW, PLxCW (for both sexes), GL1xCW and GL2xCW (males) and AWxCW (females), showed a better fit by two equations for the juvenile and adult phases (p<0.01). The inflexion point size between regression lines, indicated by each morphometric relationship, allowed to propose four morphotypes for U. cordatus. Males were classified in juvenile (CW < 32 mm), pre-puberty (32 < CW < 51 mm), sub-adult (51 < CW < 59 mm) and adult (CW > 59 mm). Females showed a similar size interval: (juvenile CW < 39 mm, pre-puberty 39 < CW < 53 mm, sub-adult 53 < CW < 58 mm, adult CW > 58 mm).

Ovigerous females of Ucides cordatus were collected at different mangrove areas in Iguape, SP, Brazil, and reared in the laboratory in order to descr

A total of 2629 individuals of Arenaeus cribrarius (1293 males and 1336 females) were captured in Ubatuba (SP), from August 1996 to July 1997. Individuals were distributed in 5 mm size class carapace width (CW), to verify sex‐specific growth‐age equations. The Von Bertalanffy model was chosen to determine the growth rate and expressed by CW = 120.52[1–e^−1.80t ] for males and CW = 100.81[1–e^−1.60t ] for females. The age estimated for the first juvenile stage (t ₀) was 6.1 and 8.3 days for males and females, respectively. The maximum age determined was 1.8 years for males and 2 years for females, which correspond to a maximum size of 115.8 and 96.7 mm, respectively. The maximum size (CW_max) estimated using 95% of asymptotic size was 114.5 mm for males and 95.8 mm for females. Males have a precocious sexual maturity (5 months) when compared to females (6.8 months). The growth rate and size of A. cribrarius are higher than other portunid species, with great interest for aquaculture.