Donor-side and user-side evaluation of the Atlantic blue crab invasion on a Mediterranean lagoon

Cannarozzi, Laura; Paoli, Chiara; Vassallo, Paolo; Cilenti, Lucrezia; Bevilacqua, Stanislao; Lago, Nicola; Scirocco, Tommaso; Rigo, Ilaria

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114758

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 48 publications

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“…In some Mediterranean regions (e.g. Adriatic Sea; Egypt; Turkey; Tunisia, Spain), the blue crab fishery is used as a population control measure, and its use and sale has made it possible to compensate for the economic losses suffered by the artisanal fishery [ 19 , 20 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental drivers of size-based population structure, sexual maturity and fecundity: A study of the invasive blue crab Callinectes sapidus (Rathbun, 1896) in the Mediterranean Sea

Marchessaux,

Gjoni,

Sarà

2023

PLoS ONE

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The blue crab Callinectes sapidus (Rathbun, 1896) is one of the most invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea. Understand how the populations are maintained and how the environment is driving the populations in the areas invaded is the key to an effective future management. This current study is presenting a monthly long-term monitoring of the blue crabs’ population structure, body size, sexual maturity, reproduction periods and fecundity, and their relationships with environmental factors in a saltmarshes system in Italy. During winter, high densities (15 ± 8 ind m-2) of early juveniles (< 2 cm) were observed, and their numbers decreased due the population growth until summer. The size-spectra showed that across different temperature (18–26°C) and salinity (24–40 psu) gradients, the growth period for males is faster than for females. Based on abdominal analysis, sexual maturity was defined at ∼12 cm for males and females but the population was in favor of males that were more than 66% of the time mature throughout the year. Copulations periods were identified between spring and autumn when more than 50% of females were matures, and ovigerous females’ migrations were observed in late summer. Our study expand our understanding of how the environment interacts to effect physiological and biological processes of alien species and improve our ability to make predictions of how environmental change the distribution of the alien species in the future. Based on our results, we also discuss which population control strategy would be most effective based on the data available in the literature.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%