Growth, Fecundity, Egg Size And Recruitment Of Palaemon serrifer (Decapoda: Caridea: Palaemonidae)

Growth and reproduction of Palaemon serrifer were described and analyzed in a populationinhabiting tide pools in warm temperate waters in Korea. The water temperature varied greatly in the tide pools,ranging from 8℃ to 27.8℃ Population structure and growth were investigated using size frequency distributiondata collected from January to December 2003. Sex ratios fluctuated, but were almost equal during the breedingperiod. Growth was continuous and size increased gradually throughout the year. Adult females were larger andgrew faster than males. von Bertalanffy growth parameters for a one-year sample of females and males wereestimated as L = 11.32, K = 0.311, t0 = -0.4115 and L = 8.36, K = 0.228, t0 = -0.9693 respectively. Breedingwas seasonal, starting in May, peaking in August, and finishing by the end of August. The species showedcontinuous production of successive broods. Laboratory observation showed that females with embryos nearhatching had ovaries filled with vitellogenic oocytes ready for spawning. The reproductive output (effort) of eachfemale (mean number of eggs: 552～1355) was not high. The mean embryo volume, 0.078 mm3, is relativelysmall, indicative of low energy allocation to each embryo. Recruitment of juveniles was closely linked to thebreeding period, beginning in September.