Marine and lagoon recruitment of Litopenaeus Vannamei (BOONE, 1931) (DECAPODA: PENAEIDAE) in the “Cabeza de Toro-La Joya Buenavista” lagoon system, Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

Life cycle of the Penaeidae shrimp family is approximately 16 months and this takes place between the marine and coastal lagoon environments. Within the “Cabeza de Toro-La Joya Buenavista” lagoon system (CJB-LS) a total length value for 6116 juvenile white shrimp was recorded. Bhattacharya’s method and modal progression analysis were used in order to analyze marine (MR) and lagoon (LR) recruitment periods. The MR isthe natural movement of juvenile shrimp from the interior of CJB-LS towards the marine fishing zone (MFZ) from Gulf of Tehuantepec. The LR is the natural movement of shrimp post-larvae from the MFZ towards the interior of CJB-LS. Both recruitments were separated between September and October. The MR period was delimitedfrom April 2001 to the middle of October 2001 (during rainy season). In this period, the age at which white shrimp began to migrate towards the MFZ was recorded between 4.5 and five months old. The LR period began during the last days of October 2001 and ended in March 2002 (during “Tehuanos” season). Only in this period were shrimp cohorts observed with an approximate age of 25 days. Those shrimp cohorts were considered as recently recruited, because they continued growing after their immigration from MFZ. Reproduction period ofwhite shrimp occurs in the MFZ from July to November with maxima in October.