Reproductive Cycle and Size at First Maturity in Females of Brown Crab Callinectes Bellicosus (Stimpson 1859) in the Southwestern Gulf of California, Mexico

Abstract The reproductive cycle of the crustacean family Portunidae on the coast of the Pacific is not well known. Therefore, the reproductive cycle and the size at first maturity of brown crab Callinectes bellicosus and its relationship with environmental factors in the El Colorado Lagoon, Ahome, Sinaloa has been determined. A total of 360 females were collected from March 2012 to March 2013. The gonads were fixed in 10% formalin, histological cuts were made by the paraffin inclusion method and the hematoxylin and eosin staining technique. The diameter of oocytes was determined by stage. The size at first maturity was estimated by a logistic model. Females showed gametogenic activity during the entire study period. The maturity period was from March to November 2012, with two spawning peaks, in September 2012 and March 2013. Maturity was inversely influenced by temperature (r = -0.4454, P < 0.05) and no influence by salinity was observed (P > 0.05). The diameter of the oocytes showed significant differences between the development stages of the gonad (P = 0.001). The size at first maturity was 11.57 cm of carapace width for females of C. bellicosus.