FIGURE 5.— Distribution of female 

 Geryon quinquedens according to size 

 (carapace length) and stage of ovarian 

 development. November 1974 and 

 September 1975 samples pooled. 

 Black areas indicate ovigerous crabs 

 and those with egg remnants on 

 pleopods. 



VERY EARLY 



n^l nfJl t*\ hr^lrnn 



D ,-D , n r— i 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 75, NO. 1 



EARLY 



^ r, nBp U  



30 40 



q n ,- 



jliui^ 



INTERMEDIATE 

 , "1 , , 



5-1 N = 50 



-0— 



P^r-^r^ jlfrh 



5 , N=22 MATURE 



SHORT CARAPACE LENGTH (mm) 



10 



OVIGEROUS 



NOVEMBER 1974 



n^Hrn 



h^V^ 



N=208 



p n , n , 



< 



> 



Q 



Z 



o 



cr 



LU 



CD 



15 



10 



SEPTEMBER 1975 



tL 



20 



15 



10 



5 







OVIGEROUS 

 EGG REMNANTS 



H 



1 1 - 1 — I 1 ' T 



n , n , n 



JANUARY 1976 



OVIGEROUS 



Un. 



u 



^M 



fl H 



J ~ L | S N^332 



N--2I5 



30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 



SHORT CARAPACE LENGTH (mm) 



FIGURE 6.— Size-frequency distribution of female Greyon quinquedens captured in November 1974 (a), September 1975 (b), and 

 January 1976 (c). Ovigerous individuals are indicated in black; those with egg remnants on pleopods by horizontal stripes. 



by examining the spermathecal contents of 67 

 crabs with discolored vulvae (14 with extruded 

 eggs, egg remnants, or damaged pleopods and 53 

 with clean, intact pleopods). Eleven (79%) of the 

 recently ovulated females (78-103 mm CD and 47 

 (89%) females with clean pleopods (45-105 mm 

 CD contained sperm (Figure 7). Twenty-one crabs 

 (50-75 mm CD with immature vulvae were 

 similarly examined; none had sperm in the 

 spermathecae. Another 17 crabs (50-72 mm CL) 



with immature vulvae were not examined for the 

 presence of sperm because the spermathecae were 

 undeveloped; only the tubular vagina was present 

 between the ovary and gonopore. 



Blackened vulval margins may be used as a 

 criterion to indicate that copulation of the female 

 crab has occurred, if other obvious signs (eggs or 

 remnants) are absent. The 89% incidence among 

 nonovigerous females supports this contention. 

 The 79% incidence among ovulated females is low, 



98 



