Eggs extracted from gravid females were examined under a microscope at x1, x2, x4 and x6.3

using reflected light. Digital photographs of eggs were taken with a DS-Fi1 5.0-megapixel digital camera (Nikon, Japan). Embryonic development was defined according to the embryo development scale for DAPT cell line the Chinese mitten crab given by Peters (1938) and for the blue king crab Paralithodes platypus given by Stevens (2006). Results were expressed as a mean with standard deviation (mean ± SD). The relationship between female carapace width and eggs wet weight was determined by linear regression analysis (y = ax + b) with a coefficient of determination R2 for a significance level P < 0.05. The carapace width of females (N = 22) collected in the Gulf of Gdańsk and Vistula Lagoon varied from 55.20 to 78.10 mm (mean 62.46 ± 5.09 mm). Detailed information on size, weight and gonad maturity stage of all the Chinese mitten crab females are given in Table 1. Most of the females (N = 17) were in the G4 gonad developmental stage; only four females had eggs on pleopods, thereby belonging to the G5 gonad developmental stage. The gonad maturity stage was not correlated with

female carapace width. The wet weight of eggs ranged from 12.16 to 31.00 g (mean 21.84 ± 8.75 g), which accounted for 17.9 ± 2.9% of the egg-carrying female weight on average. Eggs wet weight (EW) was significantly correlated (P < 0.05, R2 = 0.58) with female carapace width (CW) according to the equation EW = 2.16CW – 110.78. On the basis of photographs ( Figure 1) it was found that extracted embryos were between the selleck initial phases of the 3rd and 4th developmental stages, and characterised by a lack of visible cells and structures. The embryonic lobes would probably become visible Astemizole in the following days. Based on the gonad maturity stage it is assumed that the females were shortly before (stage G4) or after (stage G5) copulation and the eggs were in the 3rd and 4th embryo development stage. According to Stevens (2006) the 3rd embryo stage in the blue king crab lasts about 114–156 days

after copulation, whereas the 4th stage lasts about 157–170 days. Thus, based on the sampling time (November/December) as well as on the embryo development stages one can assume that the examined egg-carrying females had copulated at least 3 months previously. The eggs were tightly attached to the female pleopods and extracting them for analysis was time-consuming. This is rather surprising, because the gravid females were collected at a salinity of 7 PSU. According to Peters (1938) and Panning (1939) the ‘cement-like’ substance that attaches the eggs to the egg-carrying setae does not harden at salinities lower than 14 PSU and females lose their eggs. Although Peters (1938) conducted some successful laboratory experiments with egg-carrying females at 6.5 PSU, to date no evidence of such a situation in a natural environment has been forthcoming.