Nates and Felder: Growth and maturation of Lepldophthalmus sinuensis 



529 



B 

 B 



so 



a. 



s. 



a 

 U 



95 



90 



85 



80 



75- 



70- 



65- 



60- 



55 



50- 



45- 



16- 

 15- 

 14- 

 13- 

 12- 

 11- 

 10- 



I I I I I I I I I I I I I M I I I I I I I I I I I I II I I I I I I I M 



I I I I I I I 



■5 

 ■10 

 ■15 

 ■20 



■25 SL 



-30 S 



■35 



■40 



-45 



-50 



■55 



9 I II I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I II I I I I I I I I I I I I I II I I I I I I I I I I M I I 

 Fb My Ag Nv Fb My Ag Nv Fb My Ag Nv Fb My Ag Nv 



1992 1993 1994 1995 



Figure 1 



Sex composition (A) and mean carapace length iCLi (B) in sampled Colombian populations of 

 Lepldophthalmus smuensis. December 1991 through December 1995. Mean CL is shown separately 

 for males (closed circles) and females (open circles); vertical lines define 95'r CI. The transition 

 point at which data are subdivided, estimated by piecewise linear-linear polynomial regression, was 

 selected to minimize the sum of squares of residuals. 



Development of ovaries reached maxima in the 

 quarter prior to peak occurrences of ovigerous fe- 

 males and either coincided with or immediately fol- 

 lowed the quarter in which lowest ambient salini- 

 ties occurred (Fig. 3, A, C, and D). Examined as a 

 monthly value pooled over the three years that it was 

 monitored (Fig. 5C), this index of ovarian develop- 

 ment was at minimum values in June and July when 

 ovaries of many spent and immature females, al- 



though evident for the full length of the abdomen, 

 were limited in width to narrow translucent-yellow 

 strands. Ovaries became deep yellow to yellow-or- 

 ange as relative ovarian width began to increase 

 markedly in August, concurrent with an annual de- 

 cline in ambient salinity. By October, ovaries of most 

 mature females were somewhat lobate in shape and 

 yellow-orange to reddish orange in color, and ova- 

 rian index reached high values that persisted through 



