IMIS

Publications | Institutes | Persons | Datasets | Projects | Maps
[ report an error in this record ]basket (0): add | show Print this page

Structure and absolute growth of a population of Hippolyte inermis Leach 1815 (Decapoda: Caridea) from Zostera marina (L.) meadows (Malaga, southern Spain)
Manjón-Cabeza, M.E.; Cobos, V.; García Muñoz, E.J.; García Raso, J.E. (2009). Structure and absolute growth of a population of Hippolyte inermis Leach 1815 (Decapoda: Caridea) from Zostera marina (L.) meadows (Malaga, southern Spain). Sci. Mar. (Barc.) 73(2): 377-386. https://dx.doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2009.73n2377
In: Scientia Marina (Barcelona). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Institut de Ciènces del Mar: Barcelona. ISSN 0214-8358; e-ISSN 1886-8134, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Keywords
    Population dynamics
    Population functions > Growth
    Caridea [WoRMS]; Hippolyte inermis Leach, 1816 [WoRMS]
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    Hippolyte inermis; Caridea; growth; population dynamic; reproductivebiology

Authors  Top 
  • Manjón-Cabeza, M.E.
  • Cobos, V.
  • García Muñoz, E.J.
  • García Raso, J.E.

Abstract
    The Hippolyte inermis Leach 1815 population from Zostera marina beds in southern Spain showed two recruitment periods that occurred simultaneously for both sexes (from September to December and from April to June), in a size range between 1.67 and 1.90 mm carapace length, due to gonadal activity and eggs hatching in summer and winter. The estimated Von Bertalanffy parameters were used to determine absolute growth and showed that males live for around 8 months and females for around 12 months; consequently, four cohorts for males and 7 to 8 for females can coexist throughout the cycle. The sex ratio favours females throughout the entire life cycle. Data published on the reproductive biology of H. inermis support the idea that this is a protandric hermaphrodite species, though recent studies have revealed that there is no histological proof of hermaphroditic sexuality in adult specimens of this species. The results obtained here indicate that the Cañuelo Beach Hippolyte inermis population has a gonochoric structure. If H. inermis were to have hermaphroditic sexuality, the sex reversal of adult males would occur in a single moult in the size range between 2.42 and 3.22 mm. These new, secondary females would be incorporated into the primary female cohort at practically the same size, although they would be 0.12 to 5.20 months younger. Our results, compared with those from other population studies, suggest that this species has a highly plastic population structure, which seems to be determined by external factors and which varies between the protandric and gonochoric condition, depending on the conditions of the habitat.

All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors