FAMILY:  Portunidae 

 

NAME: Scylla serrata - Mud Crab

Data provided courtesy of Aquaculture/Fisheries Center,  University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff - (Dr. Peter Perschbacher)

 

DISTRIBUTION:

Is found from northern Western Australia right around the northern coast to southern Queensland.

HABITS:

They burrow into soft muddy bottoms.

SPAWNING:

In nature females attain sexual maturity at 1 inch, then spawn year-round.

GROWTH:

May reach market size in six to eight months. Lengths of 4 – 6.25 inches were attained at the end of three years.

USES:

Aquaculture (food fish)

CULTURE:

A trochopore-stage larva develops from the egg after 6-8 hrs. after 16 –18 hrs. the larval shelf is secreted while still planktonic. Metamorphosis is reached in 10 – 30 days. Culture is low-cost, requiring bamboo stakes for a raft culture this is popular in China.

REFERENCES:

Heasman, M. P., D. R. Fielder and R. K. Shepherd. 1985. Mating and spawning in the mud crab, Scylla serrata (Forsskål) (Decapoda: Portunidae), in Moreton Bay, Queensland. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 36: 773-783.

Hill, B. J. 1974. Salinity and temperature tolerance of the zoeae of the portunid crab Scylla serrata. Marine Biology 25: 21-24.

Hill, B. J. 1976. Natural food, foregut clearance-rate and activity of the crab Scylla serrata. Marine Biology 34: 109-116.

 

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