Carlos Tassito Correa Ivo

Biometric relationships of the spotted lobster, Panulirus echinatus , from Tamandaré coastal reefs, Pernambuco State, Brazil

Biometric relationships were recorded for 2431 male and female Panulirus echinatus sampled at Tamandare coastal reefs, Pernambuco, Brazil. The following body measurements were taken: carapace length and width, abdomen length and width, total length, third and fifth pereiopod length, cephalothorax-abdomen and total weight. Twelve relationships were studied to compare the biometric characteristics of males and females. Eleven of them showed difference between the sexes. Comparing sexes with the same carapace length, males have a heavier cephalothorax and longer third and fifth pereiopods than females, whereas females are longer, wider, and have a heavier abdomen than males. For genders with the same total length, males are heavier and have a longer carapace than females, while females have a larger abdomen. For genders with the same abdomen length, males have a heavier abdomen than females. The relationships TWg/TL and A Wg/AL showed positive allometric growth for the males. All other relationships involving weight, presented negative allometric growth for both sexes.

Comportamento migratório da lagosta Panulirus argus (Latreille), em frente ao Estado do Ceará, Brasil

Tagging experiments have been used to study the migratory behaviour of the spiny lobster Panulirus argus (Latreille), off Ceara State, Brazil. An analysis based on vectorial theory has provided the calculation of the coefficient of directional dispersion ( V), the coefficient of randon disperson (a² ) and the centre of density, by quarters of the year. The lobsters were found to engage in breeding migration in the second quarter, when there is a low random dispersion and in feeding migration in the third and fourth quarters, when there is high randon dispersion. The spawning areas are located in offshore regions and the lobsters reach them by moving seawardly, from positions occupied nearer the cost, in the fourth quarter.