Evaluation of mangrove crab (Ucides occidentalis) larviculture in the laboratory, repopulation of the Mangroves of Tumbes National Sanctuary (Atena Editora)

Abstract

Ucides occidentalis (Ocypodidae) It is one of the species of great ecological-commercial impact of the mangrove area in the Tumbes region - Peru; its population shows a significant decrease due to extractive activity and the incidence of effluents from shrimp companies located near the mangrove area; Research projects have been initiated for the development of methodologies aimed at the production of crab larvae for repopulation purposes. However, there is very little knowledge about the embryonic and larval development of this species at a local and Latin American level; The present investigation seeks to study and produce larvae free of specific pathogens in laboratory conditions. In our research we worked with 41 ovigerous females, under laboratory conditions, a hatching rate of 93.76% was obtained; the embryonic period covered eight stages with characteristics similar to U. cordatus (Ocypodidae), the duration of each stage was on average 2.5 ± 0.5 days and its total incubation period of 20 days. The larval period was 6 larval instars, one megalopa instar and one considered prejuvenile instar; with a survival up to megalopa of 3.75%; larval development was recognized mainly by the number of setae present in the first maxiliped that have a similarity to U. cordatus (Ocypodidae) (Amaro and Fiscarelli, 2001; Rodrigues and Hebling, 1989); the transfer time to a new stadium was 3.0 ± 0.5 days.