Reproduction and recruitment of the South American red shrimp, Pleoticus muelleri (Crustacea: Solenoceridae), from the southeastern coast of Brazil

Abstract

Critical stock conditions for shrimps commonly exploited in southeastern Brazil have resulted in the targeting of other shrimp species such as Pleoticus muelleri. Descriptions of reproductive biology in penaeid species are essential to implement sustainable fishery techniques. Therefore, reproduction, recruitment, and size at sexual maturity of the shrimp P. muelleri were investigated off the coast of the state of São Paulo (23°S), Brazil, from January 1998 through June 2003. Ovarian maturity was used to examine breeding in adult females. Recruitment was defined as the number of juveniles caught per standard trawl (CPUE) in each month and season of sampling. The entire sample comprised 8375 females and 3829 males. Sizes (carapace length) at onset of sexual maturity were 9.1 and 11.1 mm for males and females, respectively. Over 5.5 years, females with ripe gonads were found in every season, with the highest percentages from October to March (spring to summer). Juvenile shrimp occurred year-round. These findings suggest a continuous reproductive pattern for P. muelleri, with temperature as an environmental stimulus for the ovary development cycle. These data and the hypothesis of the intrusion of the South Atlantic Central Water mass, which lowers water temperature and raises plankton production, suggest that the main reproductive months extend from late spring to early summer. The classical paradigm of continuous reproduction at lower latitudes, with increased seasonality of breeding period at higher latitudes, seems to be followed by this species.

Keywords:

• Pleoticus muelleri
• recruitment
• reproduction
• sexual maturity
• Solenoceridae

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo-FAPESP and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-CNPq for the financial support during collections and analyses. We thank many colleagues from the NEBECC Group (Group of Studies on Crustacean Biology, Ecology and Culture) who helped with sampling and laboratory analyses, to Dr. Enrique E. Boschi (from INIDEP, Argentina) and Dr. Wagner C. Valenti (from CAUNESP, Brazil) for their constructive comments on early drafts of the manuscript, to Dr. Janet Reid for her great help with English language, and the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA) for permission to collect shrimps.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark