WILLIAMS: CRABS OF THE GENUS CALLINECTES 



Taissoun (1972) included some of these speci- 

 mens in his comparative study. From this welter 

 of conflicting trends, separation of C. bocourti 

 from maracaiboensis was a weighted decision 

 resting on characters prevalent in the Lago de 

 Maracaibo populations plus environmental sepa- 

 ration. 



Distribution. — Jamaica and British Honduras 

 to Estado de Santa Catarina, Brazil (Figure 27); 

 extraterritorial occurrences in southern Florida 

 and Mississippi, USA (both mature males). 



Habitat. — Callinectes bocourti is associated 

 with C. sapidus in many estuarine areas, but 

 seems more tolerant of stagnant, polluted situa- 

 tions. Around the mouth of Lago de Maracaibo C. 

 bocourti was found in the Golfo de Venezuela, 

 Bahia de El Tablazo, Rio Limon, and Estrecho de 

 Maracaibo, but less abundantly in Lago de 

 Maracaibo itself (Taissoun, 1969, 1972). Only 

 adult females were found in the Golfo de Ven- 

 ezuela, but elsewhere both sexes in all stages of 

 growth were common, abounding in Rio Limon 

 and mangroves around Puerto Caballo and in 

 Bahia de El Tablazo, large males and juveniles 

 being especially numerous around sewers of San 

 Carlos and Punta de Palmas. Bottoms in this area 

 vary from mud to sand. Griffiths, Cadima, and 

 Rincon (1972) presented a similar account, show- 

 ing that juveniles recruit to a fishery there in July 

 and November, with mature males tending to 

 remain in low-salinity water whereas females 

 move to saltier water after mating. Coelho (1967a) 

 reported C. bocourti (called the blue crab there) 

 abundant in a lagoon in Pernambuco that varies 

 from 5/(0 salinity in the rainy season to 29 /to in 

 the dry season, and from other estuaries in north- 

 eastern Brazil (1970). 



The broad range of tolerance is emphasized by 

 presence in places such as a pool inside porous old 

 coral rubble on Bonaire (Rathbun, 1936), and dark 

 somewhat stagnant, polluted water at mouths of 

 the Mero, Indian, and Salisbury Rivers on 

 Dominica where sand bars blocked river flow at 

 the time of investigation (Chace and Hobbs, 

 1969). Here the crabs actively fed on garbage in 

 daytime over a bottom of rock-strewn sand covered 

 with silt. In other streams on Dominica whose 

 mouths were open to flow, only C. sapidus was 

 found. 



Spawning . — In all of the museum collections 



studied there are many containing mature 

 females, but only five in which there are ovigerous 

 specimens and only three of these are accurately 

 dated: January, Puerto Rico, Panama; February, 

 Curasao; November, Sao Francisco [Estado de 

 Santa Catarina], Brazil. Taissoun (1969, 1972) 

 found ovigerous females most abundant from 

 March to August in the Golfo de Venezuela, and 

 Griffiths et al. (1972) found them most abundant 

 around the mouth of Lago de Maracaibo in July. 

 These data suggest nearly year-round spawning 

 (Taissoun, 1972) in one part or another of the 

 range, perhaps with seasonal peaks associated 

 with latitude. 



Economic importance. — Holthuis (1959) de- 

 scribed a fishery for C. bocourti in brackish waters 

 of Surinam where it is the only portunid routinely 

 caught, its tolerance of this habitat apparently 

 favoring success there. The crabs are sold alive on 

 the market in Paramaribo. A crab trap fishery 

 around the mouth of Lago de Maracaibo started 

 in 1969 and is increasing rapidly (Griffiths, et al., 

 1972). Though directed primarily at C. sapidus, 

 a considerable number of C. bocourti are taken 

 as well. Second half of the year is the season of 

 highest catch per unit effort in a brackish area 

 where males make up 90% of the take. 



Remarks. — The collections examined contain 

 an unusually large number of mature females. 



The type series of C. bocourti in the MNHNP is 

 somewhat confused by labels. No clear designa- 

 tion is given on labels of specimens which, by 

 implication, can be associated with the original 

 description. Two mature male specimens labelled 

 "Callinectes bocourti A. M. Edw., Riviere de Mul- 

 lins (12 m. NNW Stann Creek) au de Belize, 

 Honduras, Coll. Bocourt" represent the types in 

 the opinion of J. Forest. Identification, locality 

 (excepting the parenthetic emendation), sex, and 

 collector agree with Milne Edwards' description. 

 The smaller specimen (size of carapace in mm: 

 length 48, width at base of lateral spines 80, 

 including lateral spines 90) has more granulate 

 gastric, metagastric, cardiac, and branchial areas 

 than the larger (length 60, width at base of lateral 

 spines 102, including lateral spines 120). A small 

 Chelonibia is affixed over the left epibranchial 

 line on the anterolateral aspect of the mesobran- 

 chial area of the larger specimen. Both specimens 

 lack right chelae, but have slender left minor 

 hands with smooth rounded upper sides on the 



769 



