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211506

Fishery Biology and Population Structure of the Blue Swimmer Crab, Portunus pelagicus, from the Red Sea, Egypt

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Last updated: 01 Jan 2025

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Abstract

More than 300 MT of blue swimmer crabs (BSC), Portunus pelagicus, are annually captured from the fisheries of the Egyptian Red Sea waters. During the last 20 years, a decline has been witnessed in the production of this species. For management purposes, information about the fishery's biology and population structure is required. Hence, monthly samples of P. pelagicus were collected from the commercial catch of Hurghada landing site, Red Sea, Egypt during the period from November 2017 to October 2018. A number of 1190 specimens were measured for morphometric relationships, sex ratio, age determination using carapace width frequency, population structure, mortality rate and exploitation ratio. The study revealed that P. plagicus was targeted by trammel nets and caught by a small bottom trawler as a by-catch. Carapace width- total weight relationship showed positive allometric growth (b-value= 3.10). Higher condition factors were observed in the small individuals. Four age groups were determined and age group +I was dominant by number (60.6%). Parameters of the von Bertalanffy equation were 21.19 cm, 0.414 year-1, and -0.998 year for CWāˆž, K and to, respectively. The carapace width at first capture was estimated (CW50 = 8.7 mm). The mortality rates were calculated as 2.929, 1.285 and 1.644 year-1 for total, natural and fishing mortalities, respectively. The blue swimmer crab fisheries on the Red Sea is over-exploited (E= 0.65) by the trammel net. Some management measures were suggested to maintain its stock for sustainability.

DOI

10.21608/ejabf.2021.211506

Keywords

Protunus plagicus, Fishery biology, population structure, Red Sea

Authors

First Name

Midhat

Last Name

A. El-Kasheif et al.

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Volume

25

Article Issue

6

Related Issue

29475

Issue Date

2021-12-01

Receive Date

2021-12-29

Publish Date

2021-12-01

Page Start

269

Page End

283

Print ISSN

1110-6131

Online ISSN

2536-9814

Link

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/article_211506.html

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https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=211506

Order

20

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Original Article

Type Code

103

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries

Publication Link

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Fishery Biology and Population Structure of the Blue Swimmer Crab, Portunus pelagicus, from the Red Sea, Egypt

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Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023