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 miles
A. Milne-Edwards, 1880
Munida miles
has been reported from
Brazil
to the Gulf of
Mexico
in depths of
68 to 659 m
(
Milne-Edwards 1880
;
Henderson 1888
;
Chace 1942
) and has also been reported as
Munida decora
(see
Baba
et al.
2008
). We used specimens collected in the Gulf of
Mexico
and Caribbean in depths of
250 to
630 m
. Specimens were collected in January, March, May, June, July, November, and December; ovigerous specimens were only collected in May and July (
Fig. 9
C). Forty-three males (CW from
4.2 to 16.5 mm
), 21 non-ovigerous females (CW from 9.7 to 17.0 mm), and 22 ovigerous were measured (CW from
10.9 to 17.6 mm
); males and females were not significantly different in size (t-test, df
=
84, t
=
0.735, p
=
0.464) nor were ovigerous and non-ovigerous females (t-test, df
=
41, t
=
1.563, p
=
0.126). Females carried between 334 and 3224 eggs with an average egg diameter per female range of
0.36 to 0.54 mm
. Both, fecundity (R2
=
0.326, p
=
0.005;
Fig. 4
E) and the average egg diameter was correlated with CW (R2
=
0.188, p
=
0.044).