Abstract

The fecundity, egg volume and output reproductive of 286 ovigerous females belonging to Petrolisthes tuberculatus, P. granulosus, Allopetrolisthes angulosus, A. spinifrons and Liopetrolisthes patagonicus, collected in the rocky intertidal of northern Chile in December of 1999, was analyzed. In each species, the egg number was positively correlated with female size showing a good fit to the power function. Females of A. spinifrons and L. patagonicus were the species that produced the highest egg number (6.12 ± 437 and 413 ± 284 eggs, respectively). The females of P. granulosus incubated eggs of great size (0.184 ± 0.038 mm3), and were smaller in corporal size (7.3 ± 0.80 mm Lc) than the rest of the analyzed species. The potential loss of eggs during the developmental stages it is not significative (p>0.5). During the incubation period, the egg size increased between 43% (P. granulosus) and 88% (L. patagonicus). This phenomenon was more important in the populations subjected to less drying pressure, which would be related to the vertical distribution of species in the intertidal area. The reproductive output fluctuated between 3.7 and 7.4%, values within the range described for other porcellanids.