A Review of Broodstock Improvement to Brachyuran Crab

Abstract

Abstract An improvement in adult brachyuran crabs performance is vital in order to produce better captive broodstock of commercially seed productions. Many factors can control the broodstock performance in brachyuran crabs but of particular importance in aquaculture will be the enhancement of female broodstock that indirectly improve the reproductive performance because of high quality berried females can be used to increase hatchery seed production. This review gives a recent overview on methods to enhance the female’s broodstock performance and many of the most important factors affecting female’s reproduction, including environmental conditions, nutritional requirements, genetic management, physiological effects and etc. and advise on the future research directions. Eyestalk ablation was the basic procedure to enhance the reproductive performance in most brachyuran crabs. Environmental factors such as temperature, salinity and oxygen affect most brachyuran crab’s reproduction such as carapace width, ovarian development and spawning success. For maximal berried female production of brachyuran crabs, a fine balance must be maintained between two distinct nutrient classes (macronutrient and micronutrient) and fresh feed items. The identification of functional gene such as molt-inhibiting hormone, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2, cyclin B or vasa gene in controlling of gonadal development is a preliminary attempt to boost the broodstock performance of brachyuran crabs. On the other hand, most chemical used in the acceleration of ovarian maturation are from hormone supplementation or direct injection such as thyroxine hormone, androgenic hormone, steroid hormone and serotonin hormones and was used to exert their effects on target tissue in crabs.