Abstract
The annual cycle of a Metopograpsus population (Muzhupilangad estuary) had three distinct periods: (1) growth-reproduction (January–May), when crabs were involved in moult and reproduction; (2) inactive period (June–July), and (3) reproductive period (August–December). Usually, spawning was immediately followed by another vitellogenic cycle, paralleled by the embryogenesis of prehatch eggs in the brood. Moulting was seemingly an annual event. In the programming of moult and reproduction, the species deviated from the common brachyuran pattern, inasmuch as the postmoult females engaged in active vitellogenesis. The synchrony in the stages of maturation and spawning, and the precision with which the physiological events are programmed, make this highly fecund species an ideal model for an integrated study of the physiology of growth and reproduction.
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Sudha, K., Anilkumar, G. Seasonal growth and reproduction in a highly fecund brachyuran crab, Metopograpsus messor (Forskal) (Grapsidae). Hydrobiologia 319, 15–21 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00020967
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00020967