Scylla serrata   (Forsskål, 1775)

Indo-Pacific swamp crab

Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
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Scylla serrata  AquaMaps  Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Scylla serrata

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Malacostraca | Decapoda | Portunidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Benthic; brackish; depth range 0 - 50 m (Ref. 343).  Tropical; 26°C - 30°C (Ref. 111153), preferred 25°C (Ref. 107945); 34°N - 37°S, 22°E - 134°W

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Indo-West Pacific. Introduced in Hawaii and USA.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 6.9, range 8 - ? cm Max length : 28.0 cm CW male/unsexed; (Ref. 343); max. published weight: 3.0 kg (Ref. 343)

Short description Morphology

Carapace smooth, with strong transverse ridges; H-shaped gastric groove deep; relatively broad frontal lobes, all more or less in line with each other; broad anterolateral teeth, projecting obliquely outwards. Well-developed present on outer surface of chelipedal carpus and anterior and posterior dorsal parts of the palm. Color: carapace green to almost black; legs may be marbled.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Maximum carapace width: between 25 and 28 cm. Maximum weight between 2 and 3 kg. Also collected by baited wire mesh pots. Sold in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, where the large crabs (so called "meat crabs") and females with ripe ovaries ("roe crabs") command a price from US$5 to US$10 per kg. Largest exporters of this species are Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh. There have been attempts to culture the crabs in captivity, but none of the closed-cycle enterprise have gone commercial. Tide is relied upon by farms to bring megalopae or late zoeae into grow-out ponds.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Gonochoric; sexually dimorphic based on secondary characteristics. The male traps the female under its chest, holding the latter with its chelipers, forming a pair. When the female is about to molt, the male releases but remains nearby. After moulting, the female is again trapped by the male and the latter opens its genitals towards the female's abdomen. Coupling may last from seven to twelve hours (Ref. 99880) and occurs at the bottom of the burrows; spawning occurs five weeks after mating. Migration: young crabs (2 cm CL) attend to estuarine waters and leave to enter the mangroves at lengths 7-9 cm for males and 8 cm for females; after which they return to the sea (Ref. 99886).

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Ng, P.K.L. 1998. (Ref. 343)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)


CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO - Aquaculture: production, species profile; Fisheries: landings, species profile | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Trophic Ecology
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Ecology
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Population dynamics
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Age/Size
Length-weight
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Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Fecundity
Spawning
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Human Related
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References

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Aquaculture: species profile; Fisheries: species profile; publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 24.5 - 29.1, mean 28.1 (based on 1290 cells).
Resilience (Ref. 69278): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=0.43).
Prior r = 1.17, 95% CL = 0.77 - 1.75, Based on 3 data-limited stock assessments.
Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Low vulnerability (21 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): High.
Nutrients :  Calcium = 109 [35, 184] mg/100g; Iron = 1.59 [1.21, 1.97] mg/100g; Protein = 20.2 [19.2, 21.3] %; Omega3 = 0.285 [0.185, 0.386] g/100g; Selenium = 48.3 [-31.7, 128.3] μg/100g; VitaminA = 0 μg/100g; Zinc = 1.79 [1.17, 2.40] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.