55 
NOAA 
National Marine 
Fisheries Service 
Fishery Bulletin 
ft?- established 1881 
Spencer F. Baird 
First U S. Commissioner 
of Fisheries and founder 
of Fishery Bulletin 
Slipper lobsters (Scylfaricfae) off the 
southeastern coast of Brazil: relative growth, 
population structure, and reproductive biology 
Luis Felipe de Almeida Duarte (contact author ) 1 
Evandro Severino- Rodrigues 2 
Marcelo A. A. Pinheiro 3 
Maria A. Gasalia 4 
Email address for contact author: duarte.mepi@gmail.com 
Abstract— The hooded slipper lobster 
(Scyllarides deceptor) and Brazilian 
slipper lobster (S. brasiliensis) are 
commonly caught by fishing fleets 
(with double-trawling and longline 
pots and traps) off the southeastern 
coast of Brazil. Their reproductive 
biology is poorly known and research 
on these 2 species would benefit ef- 
forts in resource management. This 
study characterized the population 
structure of these exploited species 
on the basis of sampling from May 
2006 to April 2007 off the coast of 
Santos, Brazil. Data for the abso- 
lute fecundity, size at maturity in 
females, reproductive period, and 
morphometric relationships of the 
dominant species, the hooded slipper 
lobster, are presented. Significant 
differential growth was not observed 
between juveniles and adults of each 
sex, although there was a small in- 
vestment of energy in the width and 
length of the abdomen in females 
and in the carapace length for males 
in larger animals ( >25 cm in total 
length [TL] ). Ovigerous females were 
caught more frequently in shallow 
waters in August-September than in 
January-February, indicating a pos- 
sible migration to spawn. Fecundity 
ranged from 55,800 to 184,200 eggs 
(mean fecundity: 115,000 [standard 
deviation 43,938] eggs). The spawn- 
ing period occurred twice a year, with 
a higher relative frequency between 
July and October, and the length at 
50% maturity for females was ~25 
cm TL; both these findings should 
be considered by resource manag- 
ers. Proper management of catches 
of slipper lobsters is important be- 
cause of the high economic value of 
this fishery. 
Manuscript submitted 18 June 2013. 
Manuscript accepted 2 December 2014. 
Fish. Bull. 113:55-68 (2015). 
doi: 10.7755/FB.113.1.6 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
1 Departamento de Zoologia 
Campus de Rio Claro 
Universidade Estadual Paulista 
Avenida 24 A, 1515 
13506-900, Rio Claro 
Sao Paulo, Brazil 
2 Instituto de Pesca 
Agencia Paulista de Tecnologia dos 
Agronegocios 
Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento 
Governo do Estado Sao Paulo 
Avenida Bartolomeu de Gusmao, 192 
11030-906, Santos 
Sao Paulo, Brazil 
Few species-specific fisheries world- 
wide exist for the slipper lobsters 
(Scyllaridae), in contrast to those 
for the spiny lobsters (Palinuridae) 
and clawed lobsters (Nephropidae), 
although some slipper lobsters have 
significant commercial value (Spani- 
er and Lavalli, 2007; Duarte et ah, 
2010). According to Holthuis (1991), 
of the 85 species of lobsters record- 
ed (see Lavalli and Spanier, 2007), 
35.3% are of commercial interest, 
and of these interest has increased 
in species of the genus Scyllarides, 
such as the Brazilian slipper lob- 
ster ( S . brasiliensis), Mediterranean 
slipper lobster (S. latus), and blunt 
slipper lobster (S. squamiyiosus). In 
addition, other species of Scyllaridae 
have commercial value, including 4 
species of the genus Ibacus, the vel- 
vet fan lobster (7. altricrenatus), Jap- 
anese fan lobster (I. ciliatus), smooth 
fan lobster, (I. novemdentatus), and 
butterfly fan lobster (I. peronii), as 
3 Laboratorio de Biologia de Crustaceos 
Grupo de Pesquisa em Biologia de Crustaceos 
Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista 
Universidade Estadual Paulista 
Praca Infante D. Henrique 
s/n°1 1330-900, Sao Vicente 
Sao Paulo, Brazil 
4 Laboratorio de Ecossistemas Pesqueiros 
Departamento de Oceanografico Biologica 
Instituto Oceanografico 
Universidade de Sao Paulo 
Praca do Oceanografico, 191 
Cidade Universitaria 
05508-900, Sao Paulo 
Sao Paulo, Brazil 
well as the sculptured mitten lobster 
( Parribacus antarcticus ) and flathead 
lobster ( Thenus orientalis). 
The reproductive biology of mem- 
bers of the Scyllaridae (Lavalli and 
Spanier, 2007) has been studied for 
the genera Thenus (Kagwade and 
Kabli, 1996; Courtney et ah, 2001) 
and Ibacus (Stewart et al., 1997; 
Haddy et ah, 2005) with emphasis 
on the genus Scyllarides (Hardwick 
and Cline, 1990; Spanier and Lavalli, 
1998; DeMartini and Williams, 2001; 
DeMartini et ah, 2005; Hearn and 
Toral-Granda, 2007; Oliveira et al., 
2008). According to the above men- 
tioned authors, the sizes of females 
at maturity are smaller in species 
of the genera Ibacus (butterfly fan 
lobster) and Thenus (flathead lobster 
and T. indicus) than in species of 
the genus Scyllarides (blunt slipper 
lobster, Galapagos slipper lobster [S. 
astori], and hooded slipper lobster [S. 
deceptor]). Moreover, species of Iba- 
