Abstract— Distriliution. abundance, and 

 .s('\rral [icipulation features were stud- 

 ied in Ensenada de La Vela (Vene- 

 zuela) between 1993 and 1998 as a 

 first step in the assessment of local 

 fisheries of swimming crabs. Arenaeua 

 cribrarius was the most abundant spe- 

 cies at the marine foreshore. Callinectes 

 danae prevailed at the estuarine loca- 

 tion. Callinectes hocourti was the most 

 abundant species at the offshore. Abun- 

 dances of A. cribrarius and C. danae 

 fluctuated widely and randomly. Oviger- 

 ous females were almost absent. Adults 

 of several species were smaller than pre- 

 viously reported. This study suggests 

 that fisheries based on these swimming 

 crabs probably will be restricted to 

 an artisanal level because abundances 

 appear too low to support industrial 

 exploitation. 



Local distribution and abundance of 

 swimming crabs (Callinectes spp. and 

 Arenaeus cribrarius) on a tropical arid beach 



Carlos A. Carmona-Suarez 



Jesus E. Conde 



Centre de Ecologia, institute Venezolano de investigaciones Cientificas 



AP 21827 



Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela 



E mail address (for C. A, Carmona-Suarez) ccarmona(a)oil<os,iviC-ve. 



Manuscript accepted 16 February 2001. 

 Fish. Bull. 100:11-25 (2002). 



Swimming crabs of the family Portun- 

 idae are common in coastal habitats 

 in tropical, subtropical, and temperate 

 regions. Species of the genus Callinectes 

 are widely distributed in the neotropics 

 and subtropics (Norse, 1977; Williams, 

 1984) where they are a key resource in 

 local fisheries (Ferrer-Montafio, 1997; 

 Fischer, 1978; Oesterling and Petrocci, 

 1995 ) and are important in trophic rela- 

 tions of fish and organisms of sandy 

 and sandy-mud bottoms (Arnold, 1984; 

 Lin, 1991). and in seagrass meadows 

 (Orth and van Montfrans, 1987; Wilson 

 et al., 1987). Several species of por- 

 tunids have been thoroughly studied 

 (e.g. C. sapidus), and many aspects 

 of their biology, ecology, biogeography, 

 and fisheries (including types of fisher- 

 ies and the commercial exploitation of 

 these species as "soft-shell" crabs) have 

 been addressed, (Taissoun, 1969, 1973a, 

 1973b; Norse, 1977, 1978; Norse and 

 Estevez, 1977; Perry and Van Engel, 

 1979; Williams, 1984; Smith et al., 

 1990). However, some species remain 

 poorly known. Knowledge about species 

 of Callinectes is mainly restricted to 

 temperate regions, in spite of their com- 

 mercial importance in the Caribbean. 

 Furthermore, although several features 

 of the speckled swimming crab. Are- 

 naeus cribrarius, have been studied in 

 Brazil, such as relative growth and 

 some ecological aspects of populations 

 (Avila and Branco, 1996; Pinheiro et 

 al., 1996. 1997; Pinheiro and Fransozo, 

 1993, 1998, 1999), and elsewhere, such 

 as its role in the trophic web in a 

 sandy beach in South Carolina and its 

 larval development (Stuck and Trues- 

 dale, 1988; DeLancey 1989), as far 

 as we know there are no published 



accounts of its abundance in the south- 

 ern Caribbean. 



Several studies of portunids have 

 been conducted on Venezuelan coasts 

 (Taissoun, 1969, 1973a, 1973b; Rodri- 

 guez, 1980; Scelzo and Varela, 1988; 

 Carmona-Suarez and Conde, 1996). in- 

 cluding species that are commercially 

 important at an industrial level and 

 as a mainstay for artisanal and subsis- 

 tence fisheries in many coastal villag- 

 es (Ferrer-Montafio. 1997; Conde and 

 Rodriguez, 1999). A few studies with 

 emphasis on biogeographical. taxonom- 

 ic. and morphometric features of the 

 family have been conducted in Lake 

 Maracaibo, a polyhaline system (Tais- 

 soun 1969, 1972, 1973a, 1973b; Schu- 

 bart et al., 2001). Seven species of Cal- 

 linectes and the speckled swimming 

 crab, A. cribrarius, have been listed for 

 the State of Falcon (Carmona-Suarez 

 and Conde, 1996), which is character- 

 ized by protracted desolate coasts, san- 

 dy and sand-mud beaches (Carmona 

 and Conde, 1989). and an abnormally 

 arid climate (Lahey. 1973). Lake Mara- 

 caibo, which is roughly 240 km west of 

 Ensenada de La Vela, has the largest 

 crab and crabmeat industry in Venezu- 

 ela. Most of it is exported to the Unit- 

 ed States, where it accumulated a total 

 value of US$ 6.2 million in 1992 (Oes- 

 terling and Petrocci, 1995). The main 

 crab species captured in this area is C 

 sapidus. Crabs have also been harvest- 

 ed near Punto Fijo and Coro, the latter 

 just 10 km from Ensenada de La Vela. 

 In this locality, C. bocourti is hai-vested 

 by artisanal fishermen (senior author, 

 personal obs. ). In spite of this, nothing 

 is known about the abundance, micro- 

 distribution, and population traits of 



