The success on mating of separately reared female from the male of mud crab Scylla tranquebarica Fabricius (1798) Sulaeman*1, Gunarto1, Herlinah1, and Nurfadilah2
1Research Center for Fishery, National Research and Innovation Agency, Cibinong, Bogor, Indonesia
2Research Institute for Brackish water Aquaculture and Fisheries Extension(RIBAFE), Jl. Makmur Dg. Sitakka 129, Maros 90511, Indonesia
Abstract
The mating strategies of mud crab, including Scylla tranquebarica is known as mating-molting link where soft-shelled female only can mate. In nature they display courtship behaviors that prolong mating process. This study aimed at induced mating by eliminating courtship process. Fifteen newly molted females (pre-mating molt) were randomly selected from mass culture of soft-shell crabs production in outdoor concrete tank. On the other hand, five male broodstock were placed individually in a 0.5 m3 fiberglass mating-tank in the hatchery building. The newly molted female crab was paired with male at three different duration post molting i.e.: immediate, 24 ours, and 48 ours post molting (OPM). The mating success were recorded during the study. The results showed that the immediate and the 24 OPM pairing crabs were 100% successful mating while no mating occurred for the 48 OPM crab. This is suggested that the induced mating can be applied by pairing newly molted female with male not later than 24 hours. The gonad development performance of induced mating crab was further elucidated.
