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Population structure of the intertidal crab Cyrtograpsus altimanus (Brachyura: Varunidae) in a northern Patagonia mussel bed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2011

María Guadalupe Vázquez ,
Claudia C. Bas  and
Eduardo D. Spivak
María Guadalupe Vázquez*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Casilla de correos 1245, 7600 Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Claudia C. Bas
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Casilla de correos 1245, 7600 Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Eduardo D. Spivak
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Casilla de correos 1245, 7600 Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M.G. Vázquez, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Casilla de correos 1245, 7600 Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina email: guadav79@hotmail.com
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Abstract

The population structure, size at maturity, reproductive period, recruitment and habitat use were studied in a population of the grapsoid crab Cyrtograpsus altimanus in an intertidal mussel bed at San Antonio Bay, Argentina. Samples were taken from October 2000 to January 2002. Crabs were sized and sexed to estimate size–frequency distributions (SFD). Modal groups of males and females were the same. Growth, evidenced by the shift to right of SFD modal classes, was observed in spring, summer and autumn. Size at maturity of females varied seasonally. Ovigerous females were found in winter, spring and summer, but two discrete recruitment events (in spring and autumn) are proposed. Based on the maximum male and female sizes found in the mussel bed, a size constraint is proposed that forces large crabs to migrate to cobblestone adjacent habitats.

Keywords

size distributionpopulation structurerefugemarine crustaceans
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 92 , Issue 2 , March 2012 , pp. 327 - 334
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

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