Pubertal moult and ovarian development pattern of the swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus, using Single Crab Box Culture

Abstract

The pubertal moult is the key step in the transition from a sub-adult to an adult crab (Xuan et al., 2014). In the swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus (Miers, 1876), it has been documented that successful mating can happen soon after the female has finished her pubertal moult, with male spermatophores being transferred into the female spermatheca (Wu et al., 2007). Then female crabs enter into the stage of rapid ovarian development, which is initiated only after the crab has successfully mated (Wu et al., 2007). Due to the strong market demand and high returns of potential profit for P. trituberculatus, its pond culture has expanded along the east coast of China (Che et al., 2018). However, cannibalism during the moulting period is high, leading to a reduced survival percentage and negatively affecting overall farming efficiency (Duan et al., 2011; Hou et al., 2016).