Reproductive Biology of Panulirus echinatus (Crustacea: Palinuridae

P. echinatus is the only commercially captured species from northeastern Brazil that does not possess a specific regulation due the less information about its biology and ecology. Therefore, the objective of this work was to raise information on the reproduction of Panulirus echinatus. Specimens were captured using traps and free diving. The macro- and microscopic determinations of the existence of six gonadal development stages for females were possible. For males only tree stages of developmental stages could be determined by microscopy. The obtained result for L 50 was approximately 13.5 cm of total length for females. The obtained results for P. echinatus point to a mean calculated fecundity equal to 56,160 eggs