Morphometry of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium brasiliense (Caridea: Palaemonidae) and its relationship with reproductive strategy

During ontogeny, the allocation of energy can differ throughout the life cycle of a species, especial-ly from juvenile to adult. The present study aimed to describe the relative growth, heterochely, and laterality patterns of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium brasiliense. Carapace length (CL), abd...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Caio S. Nogueira, Ariádine Cristine Almeida
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2022-10-01
Series:Caldasia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/cal/article/view/97271/84934
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:During ontogeny, the allocation of energy can differ throughout the life cycle of a species, especial-ly from juvenile to adult. The present study aimed to describe the relative growth, heterochely, and laterality patterns of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium brasiliense. Carapace length (CL), abdo-men length (AL), left cheliped length (LCL), right cheliped length (RCL), and abdomen width (AW) of males and females were measured.Differences in the morphometric relationships between juveniles and adults were evaluated using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and linear regressions. Heterochely was tested using the Mann-Whitney test.Only the relationships LCL vs CL for males and AL vs CL for females were significantly different between adults and juveniles (P < 0.05); these were used to calcu-late morphological sexual maturity, estimated at 10.3mm CL for males and 8.1mm CL for females. Indi-viduals did not present laterality (P > 0.05) or heterochely (P > 0.05). The average length of the largest and smallest cheliped in males was 9.9 ± 4.8 and 9.2 ± 4.26 mm, while for females it was 7.3 ± 2.4 and 6.8 ± 2.3 mm, respectively. The variation in size and developmental rate of structures suggests that the species follow a mate guarding reproductive strategy since males have well-developed chelipeds to be able to court and guard females during copulation.
ISSN:0366-5232
2357-3759