Salinity and temperature tolerance of zoeae of the portunid crabScylla serrata

✍ Scribed by B. J. Hill

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 339 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0025-3162
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00395104

✦ Synopsis

The tolerances of the first zoeal stage of the crab Scylla serrata (Forskal) have been investigated in 61 different temperature-salinity combinations. Exposure to temperatures above 25 ~ or to salinities below t7.5 ~ caused considerable mortality; therefore, zoeae are unsuited r estuarine conditions. The larvae can tolerate temperatures down to 5 ~ but they are inactive below 10 ~ It is suggested that 10 ~ is probably a lower limit and that female crabs which migrate to sea to release their eggs do not enter water with a temperature below 12~ Hydrological conditions along the south-east coast of Africa indicate that females would, therefore, migrate less than 10 km offshore.