The Size at Maturity of the Brown Crab Callinectes Bellicosus (Decapoda, Portunidae) in the Gulf of California

Crustaceana 85 (12-13) 1513-1523 THE SIZE AT MATURITY OF THE BROWN CRAB CALLINECTES BELLICOSUS (DECAPODA, PORTUNIDAE) IN THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA BY GUILLERMO RODRÍGUEZ-DOMÍNGUEZ1,2), SERGIO G. CASTILLO-VARGASMACHUCA1), RAÚL PÉREZ-GONZÁLEZ2) and E. ALBERTO ARAGÓN-NORIEGA3,4) 1) Posgrado en Ciencias Biológico Agropecuarias, Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit, Carretera Tepic-Compostela Km 9 Xalisco, Nayarit 63780, Mexico 2) Laboratorio Manejo de Zona Costera, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Paseo Claussen S/N, Mazatlán, Sinaloa 82000, Mexico 3) Unidad Sonora del Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Km 2.35 Camino al Tular, Estero de Bacochibampo, Guaymas, Sonora 85454, Mexico ABSTRACT This study describes the size (carapace width, CW) at maturity of Callinectes bellicosus (Stimpson, 1859) based on samples from a coastal lagoon in the southern Gulf of California. The study was conducted since knowledge of the species in particular and the genus in general on the Pacific coast is scarce or non-existent and size at maturity is a key biological parameter for fisheries management. The collection of statistics on the crab fishery began in 1982, but landings of crab from the fishery increased exponentially until 2003. Samples were collected at the mouth of the lagoon and in the inside lagoon. A total of 651 brown crabs, including 255 females and 396 males, were processed from both sites. The crabs from the coastal lagoon showed a marked segregation of the sexes. In all, 73% of the crabs from the inside lagoon were males, and 71% of the crabs from the mouth of the lagoon were females. Immature females were predominant (78% of all females) in the inside lagoon, whereas mature females were predominant (81% of all females) at the mouth of the lagoon. Segregation according to the size at maturity was observed. The size at maturity was greater in the inside lagoon (114.08 mm CW) than at the mouth of the lagoon (103.73 mm CW). The pooled size at maturity was 107.78 mm CW. This report presents the first information onsegregationbysexandmaturitystageinanyCallinectes species from the Mexican Pacific coast. These findings are important not only for fisheries management but also for the general biological knowledge of Callinectes species. We concluded that this study offers an improved approach for evaluating fisheries management, at least for the species studied here. 4) Corresponding author; Fax: (52-622) 221-2238; e-mail: [email protected] © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 DOI:10.1163/156854012X651600 1514 GUILLERMO RODRÍGUEZ-DOMÍNGUEZ ET AL. RESUMEN El estudio describe la talla (longitud del caparazón, LC) de primera madurez de Callinectes bellicosus (Stimpson, 1859) de muestras tomadas en una laguna costera de la región sur del Golfo de California. El estudio fue motivado ya que el conocimiento es muy escaso sobre la especie en particular, y en general para el género en toda la costa del Pacífico. La talla de primera madurez, en particular, es un factor clave para el manejo de pesquerías. El registro de las estadísticas pesqueras inició desde 1982, pero fue hasta 2003 cuando la producción tuvo un incremento exponencial. Se recolectaron muestras en dos sitios ; al interior y en la boca de la laguna. Se capturaron un total de 625 jaibas de las cuales 255 fueron hembras y 396 machos. Se observó una marcada segregación entre sexos ; en el interior de la laguna el 73% del total fueron machos y 71% hembras del total en la boca de la laguna. Del total de hembras se encontró que las del interior de la laguna el 78% estaban inmaduras, mientras que en la boca de la laguna el 81% estaban maduras. También se observó segregación en cuanto a tallas, la talla de primera madurez en el interior de la laguna fue de 114,08 mm LC, mientras que en la boca de la laguna fue de 103,73 mm LC. Combinando los datos de ambos sitios se encontró una talla de primera madurez de 107,78 mm LC. Los resultados de este estudio son importantes tanto para el manejo pesquero como para en conocimiento de la biología general de las especies del género Callinectes. La conclusión de este estudio es que se ofrece una oportunidad de mejora para evaluar el manejo pesquero actual de esta especie. INTRODUCTION The population biology of eastern Pacific swimming crabs (Brachyura, Por- tunidae) belonging to the genus Callinectes is poorly documented. This lack of knowledge has important practical implications, because since 1982 Callinectes bellicosus (Stimpson, 1959) has become the focus of an important commercial fishery in Mexico, especially in the eastern Gulf of California, where a small-scale fishery for these crabs has been established. The coastal lagoon of Santa María La Reforma is included in this area. The brown crab C. bellicosus has different local common names that include “jaiba café”, “jaiba verde” and “jaiba guerrera”; the approximate translation into English is brown crab (as we use in this study), green crab and warrior crab, respectively. Most of the studies have been conducted on Atlantic coastal species (Williams, 1974). This knowledge has been adapted to de- velop several strategies to manage the Pacific crab fishery (e.g., first size at capture for fishery crabs species in Mexican Pacific coast to assure enough broodstock in the wild population). Our search of the existing literature primarily found govern- ment reports and located only three formal papers that focused on C. bellicosus.All of these papers reported research conducted in estuarine lagoons along the Pacific coast (Paul, 1982; Arreola-Lizárraga et al., 2003; Hernández & Arreola-Lizárraga, 2007). Crabs of the genus Callinectes are found in estuaries and coastal lagoons on the Pacific coast of the Americas from Los Angeles, California to south Peru (Williams, 1974). This exploited population might be expected to receive significant attention as an object of marine biological research, but this is not the.

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