Muscle and hepatopancreas participation in the body weight of the crayfish Austropotamobius torrentium

Abstract

The weights of the muscles and hepatopancreas of the crayfish A. torrentium were measured and compared with the body weight and length for different size classes, males and females, separately and together. The crayfish were collected from streams in the north-western part of Yugoslavia. The results obtained showed that the muscle weight was not the same for males and females, i.e.aa greater increase in weight was found in the muscles of males than in those of females in the higher size classes (over 18 g of body weight and 7 cm of length). The analysis of muscle weight as a percentage of total body weight showed a relative decrease in relation to the growth of body weight, especially in females. The increase in hepatopancreas weight and the increase of body weight and body length were the same for males and females, but the participation of hepatopancreas weight decreased almost linearly with increase in body weight in both males and females. Since the difference between the weight of the hepatopancreas and the weight of the muscles in males and females within size classes was statistically unimportant, tables were compiled to investigate the amount of muscles in A. torrentium.