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Growth Characteristics of Edible Land Crab Cardisomaarmatum (Brachyura: Gecarcinidae) from KribiMangroves, Cameroon

Received: 19 January 2021     Accepted: 27 January 2021     Published: 23 February 2021
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Abstract

The land crab Cardisoma armatum is traditionally overexploited for consumption issue in Cameroonian mangroves. However, the exploitation of this natural resource ignores sustainable management. Hence, the study aims to assess the availability and growth patterns of C. armatum in Kribi mangroves throughout some of their morphological parameters. Several individuals were captured inside traps baited once each two months from March 2019 to March 2020. Then, wellbeing, growth patterns and size at the first sexual maturity were assessed based on sex, seasons or maturity stages. Despite the fact that the condition factor (K) value overall remained below 1, females and matures individuals were in a better wellbeing compared to males and immature. In the CW-BW relationships, the allometry coefficients (b) were below 3 for both sexes, suggesting a negative allometry growth patterns which means that crabs are lighter than their body weights. In the CW-CL and CW-BH relationships, males showed a positive allometry (b>1) while females a negative allometry (b<1). Fifty percent maturity of females (CW50=58.87±0.14 mm) was significantly lower than that of males (CW50=62.67±0.08 mm). Immature and mature crabs were recorded throughout the sampling period indicating that this species breeds throughout the year with a peak between September and November.

Published in International Journal of Animal Science and Technology (Volume 5, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14
Page(s) 19-26
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Allometry, Sex Ratio, Sexual Maturity, Size-frequency, Wellbeing

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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Vanessa Maxemilie Ngo-Massou, Ernest Kotte-Mapoko, Ndongo Din. (2021). Growth Characteristics of Edible Land Crab Cardisomaarmatum (Brachyura: Gecarcinidae) from KribiMangroves, Cameroon. International Journal of Animal Science and Technology, 5(1), 19-26. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14

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    ACS Style

    Vanessa Maxemilie Ngo-Massou; Ernest Kotte-Mapoko; Ndongo Din. Growth Characteristics of Edible Land Crab Cardisomaarmatum (Brachyura: Gecarcinidae) from KribiMangroves, Cameroon. Int. J. Anim. Sci. Technol. 2021, 5(1), 19-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14

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    AMA Style

    Vanessa Maxemilie Ngo-Massou, Ernest Kotte-Mapoko, Ndongo Din. Growth Characteristics of Edible Land Crab Cardisomaarmatum (Brachyura: Gecarcinidae) from KribiMangroves, Cameroon. Int J Anim Sci Technol. 2021;5(1):19-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14,
      author = {Vanessa Maxemilie Ngo-Massou and Ernest Kotte-Mapoko and Ndongo Din},
      title = {Growth Characteristics of Edible Land Crab Cardisomaarmatum (Brachyura: Gecarcinidae) from KribiMangroves, Cameroon},
      journal = {International Journal of Animal Science and Technology},
      volume = {5},
      number = {1},
      pages = {19-26},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijast.20210501.14},
      abstract = {The land crab Cardisoma armatum is traditionally overexploited for consumption issue in Cameroonian mangroves. However, the exploitation of this natural resource ignores sustainable management. Hence, the study aims to assess the availability and growth patterns of C. armatum in Kribi mangroves throughout some of their morphological parameters. Several individuals were captured inside traps baited once each two months from March 2019 to March 2020. Then, wellbeing, growth patterns and size at the first sexual maturity were assessed based on sex, seasons or maturity stages. Despite the fact that the condition factor (K) value overall remained below 1, females and matures individuals were in a better wellbeing compared to males and immature. In the CW-BW relationships, the allometry coefficients (b) were below 3 for both sexes, suggesting a negative allometry growth patterns which means that crabs are lighter than their body weights. In the CW-CL and CW-BH relationships, males showed a positive allometry (b>1) while females a negative allometry (b50=58.87±0.14 mm) was significantly lower than that of males (CW50=62.67±0.08 mm). Immature and mature crabs were recorded throughout the sampling period indicating that this species breeds throughout the year with a peak between September and November.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Growth Characteristics of Edible Land Crab Cardisomaarmatum (Brachyura: Gecarcinidae) from KribiMangroves, Cameroon
    AU  - Vanessa Maxemilie Ngo-Massou
    AU  - Ernest Kotte-Mapoko
    AU  - Ndongo Din
    Y1  - 2021/02/23
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14
    T2  - International Journal of Animal Science and Technology
    JF  - International Journal of Animal Science and Technology
    JO  - International Journal of Animal Science and Technology
    SP  - 19
    EP  - 26
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2640-1312
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijast.20210501.14
    AB  - The land crab Cardisoma armatum is traditionally overexploited for consumption issue in Cameroonian mangroves. However, the exploitation of this natural resource ignores sustainable management. Hence, the study aims to assess the availability and growth patterns of C. armatum in Kribi mangroves throughout some of their morphological parameters. Several individuals were captured inside traps baited once each two months from March 2019 to March 2020. Then, wellbeing, growth patterns and size at the first sexual maturity were assessed based on sex, seasons or maturity stages. Despite the fact that the condition factor (K) value overall remained below 1, females and matures individuals were in a better wellbeing compared to males and immature. In the CW-BW relationships, the allometry coefficients (b) were below 3 for both sexes, suggesting a negative allometry growth patterns which means that crabs are lighter than their body weights. In the CW-CL and CW-BH relationships, males showed a positive allometry (b>1) while females a negative allometry (b50=58.87±0.14 mm) was significantly lower than that of males (CW50=62.67±0.08 mm). Immature and mature crabs were recorded throughout the sampling period indicating that this species breeds throughout the year with a peak between September and November.
    VL  - 5
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Biological Sciences, High Teacher’s Training College, University of Yaoundé I, Yaound, Cameroon

  • Department of Fisheries Management, Institute of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences at Yabassi, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon

  • Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon

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