Relative growth in the fiddler crab Uca uruguayensis Nobili, 1901 (Brachyura, Ocypodidae) from Garças River mangrove, Guaratuba Bay, southern Brazil

A study on the relative growth was carried out in a population of the fiddler crab Uca uruguayensis from the mangrove of Garças River, Guaratuba Bay, Paraná State, southern Brazil. The dimensions analyzed were the length of the major chela (LMC) of males and width of the abdomen (AW) of females, because they are related to reproductive activities of waving (males) and egg incubation (females). The cheliped handedness in males was also analyzed. The LMC was measured in 480 males, the AW in 566 females, and all crabs had the carapace width (CW) measured that was considered as the reference dimension for both sexes. The inflection point in the graphs between each the dimensions and CW was calculated with the aid of the software REGRANS. The CW ranged from 2.33 to 8.33 mm in males and from 1.65 to 7.79 mm in females. The relationship between CW and LMC showed an inflection point at 4.14 mm CW among males, and between CW and AW at 3.52 mm CW among females. The allometric growth was positive for both dimensions throughout the entire ontogeny of both sexes, before and after the puberty. The equations describing the relationship between CW and LMC in males were: logLMC = - 0.695960 + 1.72.logCW for juveniles and logLMC = - 1.212513 + 2.5.logCW for adults. In females, the equations were logAW = - 0.519071 + 1.02.logCW and logAW = - 0.902874 + 1.73.logCW, respectively for juveniles and adults. The population of U. uruguayensis from Guaratuba Bay is composed of the smallest crabs, and it also attains morphological sexual maturity at smallest CW. The frequency of occurrence of right and left handed males was statistically the same (1:1) as in most population of fiddler crabs