Relative growth in the fiddler crab Uca leptodactyla Rathbun (Crustacea Decapoda Ocypodidae)

Relative growth of the male major chela and female abdomen was studied in a population of the fiddler crab Uca leptodactyla Rathbun, 1898 from Itapoa, Santa Catarina coast, southern Brazil. Major chela length (CMQ) was measured from 191 males, and abdomen width (LAB) from 128 females. Carapace width (LC) was the reference dimension for both sexes, which ranged from 3.9 to 11.5 mm for males, and from 3.15 to 10.65 mm for females. Males grew bigger than females. Relationship between CMQ and LC showed a transition point at 8.35 mm LC in males, and between LA and LC at 7.10 mm LC in females. Growth was allometrically positive in the early ontogenesis and isometric after the puberal molting for both sexes. Regressions between LC and CMQ in males read as: logCMQ = -0,854536 + 2,19. logLC for empirical points at left of critical point and logCMQ = 0,063047 + 1,24. logLC for those at right. In females, this relation was logLAB = -0,603590 + 1,30. logLC and logLAB = -0,361464 + 1,07. logLC, respectively. These body dimensions were connected with reproductive activity of this species.