CARACTERIZAÇÃO BIOMÉTRICA DO CAMARÃO VERMELHO Penaeus (Farfantepenaeus) subtilis Pérez – Farafante, 1967, NA ILHA DE SAÕ LUÍS – ESTADO DO MARANHÃO

O presente trabalho faz uma análise global das informações coletadas pelo Laboratório de Hidrobiologia sobre o camarão vermelho Peneaus (Farfantepenaeus) subtilis Pérez – Farafante, 1967, capturado na Ilha de São Luís, ressaltando estudos de biometria da espécie, com informações secundárias sobre as áreas de captura e a tecnologia de pesca. A caracterização biométrica do camarão vermelho foi baseada nas medidas do comprimento e peso dos indivíduos inteiros e das partes componentes do corpo (cefalotórax e abdômen) entre as quais foram calculadas equações de regressão para cada sexo. Diferenças entre machos e fêmeas, quanto às relações biométricas, foram submetidas a análise estatística através do teste t. Todas as variáveis usadas foram significativamente correlacionadas e as diferenças estatísticas entre machos e fêmeas foram encontradas nas seguintes relações biométricas: comprimento do abdômen/comprimento total, comprimento do cefalotórax/comprimento total, peso abdômen/peso total e peso do cefalotórax/peso total. Das análises biométricas, salientam-se ainda os seguintes fatos: 1 – As fêmeas são maiores que os machos 2 – O comprimento do abdômen (cauda) corresponde, em média, a 64,2 e 53,4% do comprimento total, respectivamente para machos e fêmeas, podendo concluir que as fêmeas tem cauda mais curta do que os machos. 3 – O peso do abdômen corresponde, em média, a 60,5 e 58,1% do total, respectivamente para machos e fêmeas, significando que os machos tem a cauda mais pesada que as fêmeas. ABSTRACT This paper aims at giving a broad account of the fishing for the brown shrimp Penaeus (Farfantepenaeus) subtilis, off São Luis Island, Maranhão State, Brazil and at estimating some biometric relationships for length and weight. Three different kinds of fishing gear are commonly at work in that area, namely tow net, beach trawl and fish-weir, which function diversely in their catching operations. Therefore, shrimps caught by tow nets are small –sized ones, with a mean total length of 74,9 mm, whereas those caught by beach trawls and fish-weirs have bigger mean lengths of 95,4 and 10,7 mm, respectively. Unlike the results found for the white shrimp, Penaeus (Farfantepenaeus) schmitti, felames have predominated over males for all fishing gears used, what means that a stratification by areas is not to be expected, as far as sex in concerned. The biometric characterization of the brown shrimp was based on relationships between the length (and weight) of the cape and abdomen of individual shrimp and total length (and weight) of its body, for which regression equations were calculated, sexes serarate. Differences between males and females, concerning those relationships, were submitted to statistical analysis by means of the test t. All used variables were signicantly correlated and statistical differences found between males and females in the following biometric relationships: abdomen length/ total length, total length/abdomen length, cape length/total length, total length/cape length, abdomen weight/ total weight, total weight/ abdomen weight, cape weight, total weight and total weight/cape weight. From the biometric analysis, the following facts also stand out: 1 – Females are larger than males. 2 – The abdomen length accounts, as an average, for 64,2 and 63,4 per cent of the total length for males and felames respectively, what means that females’s tail is shorter than males. 3 – The abdomen weight accounts for an average of 60,5 and 58,1 per cent of the total weight, for males and females respectively, what means that males have a heavier tail than females.