Cannibalism among Lithodes santolla (Molina 1782) juveniles: effect of stocking density, stage and molt condition

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Web End = Aquacult Int (2016) 24:10251037 DOI 10.1007/s10499-015-9968-6

M. Paula Sotelano1 Gustavo A. Lovrich1 Federico Tapella1

Received: 9 March 2015 / Accepted: 10 December 2015 / Published online: 19 December 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Abstract Lossesofkingcrabs (deaths)inmassiverearing conditions are frequentlyattributed to cannibalism. As several factors could inuence cannibalism intensity during culture, the aim of the present study was to determine the effect of molt condition, stage and density on cannibalism among Lithodes santolla juveniles. Comparisons between intermolt and molt conditions and between C1 and C2 stages during intermolt were performed at three densities (6, 12 and 18 individuals per ask; that is equivalent to 236, 472 and 708 individuals m-2). After 16 days of juvenile coexistence, cannibalism (injured ? dead) was higher during molting(33.9 4.5 %) than intermolt (21.7 3.9 %), even though only 36 % of crabs had molted. Although cannibalism was similar in C1 and C2 stages, the proportion of dead animals was higher by a factor of three in C1 stage, probably due to the fact that animals reach the rst juvenile stage with low energetic reserves, after the lecithotrophic larval development. Density was the main factor inuencing cannibalism in our experiments. Higher densities promoted higher deaths, while agonistic interactions evidenced by injured crabs remained constant. Walking appendages were lost more often than chelipeds during rst agonistic encounters. We recommend the use of intermediate densities (450 crabs m-2 at most), the early detection of exuviae and the sorting of crabs after molting, for L. santolla rearing.

Keywords Cannibalism Culture Juveniles Southern king crab Stock enhancement

Introduction

The southern king crab Lithodes santolla is the most valuable commercial species among the lithodids inhabiting the sub-Antarctic waters of Southern South America. L. santolla occurs off the Pacic coast from the Chiloe Island (42S 74W) to Cape Horn (55S 67W)

& M. Paula Sotelano [email protected]

1 Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientcas (CADIC), Consejo Nacional de InvestigacionesCientcas y Tcnicas (CONICET), Bernardo Houssay 200, V9410CAB Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

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