The influence of environmental variables in the reproductive performance of Macrobrachium amazonicum (Heller, 1862) (Caridea: Palaemonidae) females in a continental population.

João Alberto F Pantaleão,Sarah S.A Teodoro,Rogério C Costa,Abner Carvalho-Batista

doi:10.1590/0001-3765201820170275

João Alberto F Pantaleão, Sarah S.A Teodoro + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765201820170275

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Abstract

Macrobrachium amazonicum is a commercially important freshwater prawn with a high degree of reproductive plasticity. The species is classified into two groups: coastal populations, with larger individuals exhibiting high fecundity and needing brackish water for larval development; and continental populations, with smaller specimens exhibiting low fecundities and completing metamorphosis in freshwater. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of environmental factors in the fecundity, egg size and volume, and reproductive output in females of M. amazonicum from a continental population during a two-year period. We also compared our results with those obtained for other continental and coastal populations. Reproductive parameters differed markedly between continental and coastal populations in most cases. The continental population studied here, however, exhibited reproductive characteristics similar to those of coastal populations. The present study found a correlation between the reproductive parameters and the environmental variables analyzed. This result corroborates the hypothesis that wide variation in reproductive parameters in the geographical distribution of M. amazonicum is related to the environmental characteristics in which populations are inserted. We suggest that further studies could investigate the potential of continental populations for aquaculture, which could significantly reduce production costs.

Highlights

Reproduction is one of the most important lifeThe Amazon River prawn Macrobrachium amazonicum (Heller, 1862) is widely distributed in South America, from Venezuela to Argentina; it inhabits lacustrine, flood-plain, and lotic environments in tropical and subtropical flatlands (Maciel and Valenti 2009)
Macrobrachium amazonicum can be classified into two distinct groups (Moraes-Valenti and Valenti 2010): coastal populations, which inhabit rivers close to estuarine waters; and continental populations, which live in rivers, lakes and other water bodies in inland areas of South America
The absence of embryo loss during embryo development is not typical in caridean shrimps (Anger and Moreira 1998), observed in the specimens captured in the present study

Summary

Introduction

Reproduction is one of the most important lifeThe Amazon River prawn Macrobrachium amazonicum (Heller, 1862) is widely distributed in South America, from Venezuela to Argentina; it inhabits lacustrine, flood-plain, and lotic environments in tropical and subtropical flatlands (Maciel and Valenti 2009). Macrobrachium amazonicum can be classified into two distinct groups (Moraes-Valenti and Valenti 2010): coastal populations, which inhabit rivers close to estuarine waters; and continental populations, which live in rivers, lakes and other water bodies in inland areas of South America. The egg size in each brood varies according to the distance of the breeding site from the sea, and a progressive divergence of the continental and coastal populations had been suggested (OdinetzCollart and Rabelo 1996, Maciel and Valenti 2009). These conclusions were made by comparing the results obtained for different regions and different populations (coastal and continental). No study has yet investigated the effects of the variation of environmental factors on the same population

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