Sexual maturity and reproductive period of the swimming blue crab Callinectes danae Smith, 1869 (Brachyura: Portunidae) from Guaratuba Bay, Paraná State, southern Brazil

This work aims to estimate the average size at the onset of morphological and physiological sexual maturity and the reproductive period of Callinectes danae. Specimens were captured from a shrimp fishing boat equipped with a trawl net from March 2009 to February 2010. After sorting, crabs were sexed, and the following morphometric dimensions were measured: carapace width (CW), length and height of the major (MAP and HMAP), and the minor cheliped propodus (MIP and HMIP) for both sexes, and the abdominal width for females (AW). The onset of morphological maturity was estimated with the REGRANS p...