Growth and moulting of juvenile shore crabs, Carcinus maenas, in a natural population
In: Netherlands Journal of Sea Research. Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ): Groningen; Den Burg. ISSN 0077-7579; e-ISSN 1873-1406, more
Related to:Klein Breteler, W.C.M. (1975). Growth and moulting of juvenile shore crabs, Carcinus maenas, in a natural population, in: Klein Breteler, W.C.M. (1976). Oecologie van de strandkrab Carcinus maenas (L.) in de westelijke Waddenzee: een serie artikelen over de rol van strandkrabben in de voedselketens op het balgzand, met speciale aandacht voor de groei, produktie, migratie en bioënergetica tijdens het eerste levensjaar. pp. 86-99, more
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| Abstract |
During 4 consecutive years a great number of juvenile crabs has been collected on tidal flats in the western Wadden Sea. In a size frequency distribution of the carapace widths the various crab stages, separated by moults, stand out clearly. At least the first 5 or 6 stages could satisfactorily be distinguished on account of their respective carapace widths. At older stages this distinction becomes increasingly more difficult, mainly because too few crabs in these stages were caught. In the first crab stage the carapace width was relatively constant for the whole of the growing-season, viz. about 1.5 mm. For all of the older stages the carapace widths were found to become smaller as the season advanced, even to such an extent that crabs reaching the fifth stage early in the season are bigger than crabs reaching the sixth stage late in the season. This implies that the increase in size during moulting gets smaller as the crabs settle on the flats later in the season. |
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