Studies on the recently discovered crayfish, Austropotamobius torrentium (Shrank, 1803), in Turkey: morphological analysis and meat yield.

摘要

This study was conducted to analyse the morphology and abdominal meat yield of A. torrentium in order to assess its potential for aquaculture. 60 males and 224 females of A. torrentium (20-45 and 20-40 mm carapace length (CL) for males and females, respectively) were caught from the Velika River, Turkey. The specimens were stored according to sex, washed and frozen at -20 degrees C for further processing. Measurements of carapace width, abdomen length, abdomen width, chelae length, and cheliped length were documented and used to determine sexual dimorphism between males and females. A linear relationship was observed between the CL and body weight of both sexes (r2=0.89 and 0.79 for males and females, respectively). A significant sexual dimorphism was observed in the body weight, abdomen width, chelae width, chelae length and cheliped length between male and female A. torrentium of the same size. Males had significantly heavier body weight, longer cheliped and chelae, wider chelae and wider carapace than females. However, the females had significantly wider and longer abdomen than the males. There was a significant difference in the abdomen meat yield between males and females (P<0.001). In addition, big sized males (37-44 mm CL) had significantly higher abdomen meat yield than the small sized males (30-36 mm CL)(1.45+or-0.30 g and 0.97+or-0.23 g for big and small sized males). There was no significant difference in the abdomen meat yield of males and females of the same size (30-36 mm CL). However, the abdomen meat yields of males and females were 6.61 and 9.40%, respectively. It is concluded that because of the small size, low abdominal meat yield and limited distribution, A. torrentium has limited potential for aquaculture. However, ecological research should be conducted to determine the actual impact of A. torrentium on the ecosystem..