Molting and individual growth models of Callinectes bellicosus

Abstract

Individual growth of the brown crab (Callinectes bellicosus) is analyzed using 24-month experimental molt data, information theory and Bayes theorem to infer the best model and parameter values and their uncertainties. The von Bertalanffy model fit best experimental data than the general von Bertalanffy and Gompertz models. No evidence was found of different growth for separate sexes; molting does not seem to be related to ambient temperature. An exploration was done to show the effect of using informative vs. uninformative priors with Bayes theorem. Two years of experimental results indicate that the brown crab might not be a good candidate to produce soft crab for commercial purposes as compared to its blue crab congeners.