Population dynamics and production of the tropical freshwater shrimp Caridina nilotica (Decapoda: Atyidae) in the littoral of Lake Sibaya

Abstract

SUMMARY. Seasonal changes in population structure, standing stock levels and production of Caridina nilotica were studied at three sites in the littoral margins of subtropical Lake Sibaya between January 1975 and March 1976. Average population density at these sites declined from a maximum of c. 1400 to a minimum of c. 350 individuals per m2 (3.4–0.4 g m−2 dry wt) during the study, possibly as a result of emigration into peripheral vegetation inundated by rising lake levels.Shrimps bred perennially and, although egg stocks and instantaneous birth rates (b) were highest during summer, no corresponding increases in populaton density were observed, suggesting that the seasonally higher birth rates were offset by higher mortality rates. Population size structure and size‐specific sex ratios did not change seasonally to any marked extent. Relative abundance declined with size and females grew larger than males. Clutch size increased linearly as a function of female carapace length.Estimates of overall mean annual somatic production (g m−2 year−1 dry wt) for the three sites between January 1975 and January 1976 ranged between c. 132 (egg‐ratio method), 37.5 (summation of growth increments) and 24 (Hynes‐Hamilton method) at an annual mean standing stock level of 2.7 g m−2 dry wt (calorific value, 20.34 kJ g−1 dry wt). Production at sites 1, 2 and 3 decreased in line with declining annual mean standing stocks (5.32, 3.67 and 0.23 g m−2, respectively). The growth increment method gave an overall mean annual P/B value of 13.9. Egg production amounted to a further 5.6, 3.6 and 0.1 g m−2 year−1 dry wt (calorific value, 28.01 kJ g−1) at sites 1, 2 and 3, or 2.7 g m−2 year−1 on average.