Length-weight relationship in two marine portunid crabs, Portunus (Portunus) sanguinolentus (Herbst) and Portunus (Portunus) pelagicus (Linnaeus) from the Karnataka coast

The carapace width/carapace length-body weight relationship in two marine Portunid crabs, Portunus (Portunus) sanguinolentus and Portunus (Portunus) pelagicus from Karnataka (India) waters was studied. In P.(P.) sanguinolentus, the relationships between carapace width/ carapace length and body weight were W=0.0000511 L super(3.02612) and W=0.0005552 L super(3.07468) for juveniles, W=0.0000362 L super(3.09969) and W=0.0003974 L super(3.17157) for adult males and W=0.0000658 L super(2.95317) for adult females. In P.(P.) pelagicus, the relationships were W=0.00009 L super(2.87333) and W=0.0004709 L super(3.10602) for juveniles, W=0.0000032 L super(3.61676) and W=0.0003521 L super(3.178655) for adult males and W=0.0000163 L super(3.25274) and W=0.0008874 L super(2.93117) for adult females. Analysis of covariance of carapace width-weight data in these crabs suggested that between the regression equations in males and females no significant difference (P