Some biological characteristics of lessepsian crab Charybdis longicollis Leene, 1938 (Portunidae:Decapoda) in Iskenderun Bay

In this study, the some bio-ecological characteristics of the specimens of lessepsian crab Charybdis longicollis Leene, 1938 collected in the Iskenderun Bay were studied between July 2012 and June 2013. A total of 994 specimens consisted of 51.61% (513 individuals) male, 45.17% (449 individuals) female and %3.22 (31 female and 1 male individuals) juvenile of which 1 were males and 31 were females. The distribution of carapace width of the lessepsian crab was found to be between 19.2 mm and 67.3 mm, and the weight varied between 0.8 g and a maximum of 50.75 g. Sex ratio (M:F) is 1: 0.88, which indicated that the population was predominantly in favor of males (p<0.05). Length-weight relationships for male, female and all individuals found to be W= W=0,00007CL3,2149, W=0,00011CL3,0907 and W=0,00008CL3,1882, respectively,. An positive allometric growth for male and all groups, and isometric growth for female were determined for the individuals of C. longicollis. Sex depended average condition factors of C. longicollis were found as 0.0199±0.0036 for males and 0.0159±0.0002 for females. Egg-bearing individuals of C. longicollis were obtained between April and November. Average fecundity was 4058.88±640.01 eggs and ranged between 137 and 15047.