Reproductive biology of galatheoid and chirostyloid (Crustacea: Decapoda) squat lobsters from the Gulf of Mexico
Author
Kilgour, Morgan J.
Author
Shirley, Thomas C.
text
Zootaxa
2014
3754
4
381
419
journal article
46649
10.11646/zootaxa.3754.4.3
96aabdb2-1be6-484b-a6aa-34d046a24d01
1175-5326
229435
D6C44F9E-6EF7-411B-8C49-132AA77AB1A5
Munida valida
Smith, 1883
Munida valida
is a common squat lobster found from
Brazil
to New
England
in depths of
313 to 1823 m
(
Smith 1883
;
Pequegnat & Pequegnat 1970
;
Wenner 1982
; de Melo-Filho & de
Melo 2001b
). We analyzed specimens from the Caribbean and the Gulf of
Mexico
in depths of
279 to
850 m
. Specimens were collected in every month; ovigerous specimens were not collected in January, October or December (
Fig. 9
H). One hundred fifty-one males (CW from
6.3 to 27 mm
), 155 non-ovigerous females (CW from
4.5 to 24.6 mm
), and 12 ovigerous females were measured (CW from
15.5 to 22.5 mm
). Males were not significantly larger than females (t-test, df
=
317, t
=
0.561, p
=
0.575) but ovigerous females were larger than non-ovigerous females (t-test, df
=
165, t
=
3.332, p
=
0.001). These results are consistent with previous studies (
Wenner 1982
). Females had between 56 and 11,800 eggs with average egg diameters of
0.32 to 0.61 mm
. Previous reports have fecundity from 3157 to 32,333 eggs with an average egg diameter of
0.56 mm
(
Wenner 1982
). Fecundity was correlated to CW (R2
=
0.608, p
=
0.005) (
Fig. 10
A), but egg size was not correlated with carapace width (R2
=
0.0120, p
=
0.749).