Population dynamics of the pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus subtilis (Pérez-Farfante, 1967) in northeastern Brazil

Abstract

This study provides information on the population structure, growth, mortality, maximum recruitment yield, and longevity for pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus subtilis (Perez-Farfante, 1967) on the coast of Pernambuco state, northeastern Brazil. A total of 1246 specimens (545 males and 701 females) were monthly collected from August 2011 to July 2012. Mean total length of females was higher (11.42 ± 1.61 cm) than males (10.5 ± 1.62 cm) and dominated in the largest length classes. Estimation of von Bertalanffy growth parameters for total length resulted in L∞ of 19.74 cm and k of 1.06 year −1 for males, while females’ L∞ was 21.64 cm and k was 1.10 year −1 . Mortality of females was higher than males resulting higher value in the exploitation rates. The exploitation rate for maximum recruitment yield was similar between males and females with a value of 0.67, which was above the exploitation rates (0.50-0.64).