Crabs are commonly found in the double rigged shrimp fishery by-catch, which operate intensively at the coast of Armação do Itapocoroy (26º42'36"S-26º46'20"S, 48º35'02"W-48º37'06"W). The aim of this study was to provide some information about the population structure of Hepatus pudibundus caught as sea-bob shrimp by-catch. A total of 1,319 individual of H. pudibundus, was captured from August/1998 to July/1999. Sex ratio was skewed for female (846 individuals, 64.14%), and significant, different from the expected 1:1 proportion. The ovigerous females occurred from December to May and in July, being more abundant in March and distributed in the classes from 3.0 to 7.0 cm. The juveniles occurred along the year-round, with higher abundance in winter, where the recruitment peak is supposed to occur. The size of first maturation was estimated in 3.6 cm of total width of the carapace for the females and 3.5 cm for the males. The males presented a larger association between the carapace width and the fresh weight than the females, however, both presented negative alometric between these variables.
Population biology; artisan fishery; crabs
