Development of pond reared broodstock / spawners of green mud crab Scylla serrata

Abstract

Mud crabs, species of genus Scylla, are one of the most traded live seafood commodities in India and southeast Asian countries. Although seed production techniques for mud crabs have been improved during the last one decade, the consistent availability of stockable ‘crab seed’ is a constraint for commercial mud crab culture. The main reason can be attributed to inconsistent availability of quality broodstock and unreliable hatchery seed production. Therefore, mud crab farming has largely remained as an extensive fishery based aquaculture. This necessitates to explore the possibility of development of pond reared broodstock for mud crab domestication. It has been reported that even though ovary maturation and spawning of mud crabs usually takes place in the sea, broodstock of matured crabs maintained in coastal ponds with salinity above 34 ppt have been found to be ovigerous1,2. Keeping this in view, we attempted to condition mud crab broodstock using on station and on farm experimental trials.