Comparative morphometric characters of gladiator swimming crab Callinectes pallidus (Rochebrune, 1883) (Crustacea: Decapoda) from two coastal areas in Lagos Southwest Nigeria

Gabriel Olarinde Mekuleyi , Emmanuel Olugbenga Lawson and Kafayat Adetoun Fakoya

Abstract
The present study compared the morphometric characters of Callinectes pallidus (Rochebrune, 1883) (Crustacea: Decapoda) collected from two coastal areas in Lagos, Nigeria, as a measure of investigating the degree of susceptibility of the species to environmental stress. Thirteen different morphometric characters (distances) which included eye cavity length (ECL), inter-orbital distance (IOD), medial peduncle width (MPW), carapace total length (CTL), carapace total width (CTW), carapace final width (CFW), width of the joining between the propodus and the movable chela thigh (PCT), chela dactylus length (CDL), first movable chela width (FMW), 2nd, 3rd and 4th pereiopod merus width (PMW), merus length (ML), abdomen total length (ATL) and abdomen first suture width (AFW) were measured with precision calliper with an accuracy of 0.01 mm. Differences in mean morphometric distance were tested with T-test and Z-test while the standardized values were examined with fisher’s linear discriminant function. 12 morphometric characters except MPW showed a significance different (p < 0.05) for male crabs between the sites while FMW only indicated no sites differences (p > 0.05) in female crabs examined. All the statistical tools employed clearly shown a great distinction in the growth of the crabs across the two sites. Therefore, this preliminary study concluded that C. pallidus from site 2 (Agbara) are more susceptible to environmental stress. However, further research is required to identify these environmental stressors.

Keywords
Crabs; Growth; Susceptible; Environmental stress.

DOI
10.21472/bjbs.040716

Full text
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