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Abstract
Reproductive traits of an estuarine crab, Neohelice (= Chasmagnathus) granulata (Dana 1851), were compared between individuals living in contrasting habitats (mudflat and saltmarsh) of the same population in the brackish coastal lagoon of Mar Chiquita, Argentina. In both habitats, most measures of egg biomass decreased during embryogenesis, including total dry weight (DW) and organic matter (measured as ash-free dry weight, AFDW) per egg, the contents of ash, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen (per egg and as percentage values of DW), the energy content (estimated from C; both per egg and per mg DW), and the C/N and C/H mass ratios. Egg size, wet weight (WW), and water content (in µg and % of WW), by contrast, increased significantly during the time of embryonic development. These parameters reached significantly higher final (near-to-hatching) values in mudflats than in saltmarshes (egg volume 0.0249 vs 0.0233 mm3; WW 36.5 vs 28.8 µg; water content 30.7 vs 23.2 µg per egg or 84.2 vs 80.2% of WW, respectively). Fecundity and reproductive effort did not differ significantly between habitats. Habitat-specific differences in the water content and size of crab eggs are discussed in relation to small-scale local variation in environmental conditions.
Highlights
The life cycles of most marine, coastal and estuarine species of decapod crustaceans comprise three principal phases prior to sexual maturity: embryonic, larval and juvenile development
We studied the Varunid crab Neohelice granulata (Dana, 1851) (= Chasmagnathus granulatus; for recent taxonomic revision, see Sakai et al, 2006)
Significant habitat-specific differences were observed in salinity, temperature, and pH of water collected from burrows of N. granulata, while dissolved oxygen concentrations did not differ between habitats (Fig. 2)
Summary
The life cycles of most marine, coastal and estuarine species of decapod crustaceans comprise three principal phases prior to sexual maturity: embryonic, larval and juvenile development. There are many studies related to differences in size and biochemical composition of crustacean eggs comparing geographically separated populations (Jones and Simons, 1983; Wehrtmann and Kattner, 1998; Lardies and Castilla, 2001; Lardies and Wehrtmann, 2001; Bas et al, 2007, Delgado and Defeo, 2008), whereas comparative studies between contrasting habitats of the same population are less commonly found in the scientific literature. This aspect of intraspecific variability is addressed in the present study
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