Abstract

The lipid content of 48 adult female white river crayfish, Procambarus acutus acutus, was estimated by total body electrical conductivity. Survival and ovipositioning of individuals in simulated burrows (1 L containers) was followed for 120 d. One crayfish died and 66% crayfish oviposited eggs. Mean total length (TL), carapace length (CL), wet weight (WW) and lipid weight (LW) for ovipositing crayfish were significantly greater than non-ovipositing crayfish. Clutch size which ranged 80-646 eggs per female increased with female size and lipid weight. Coefficient of determinations (R²) for linear regression models of clutch size and female TL, CL, WW, LW and percent lipid (%L) were 0.843, 0.838, 0.850, 0.862, and 0.420, respectively. Amount of lipid oviposited as eggs per female increased linearly with female TL (R² = 0.754), WW (R² = 0.763), LW (R² = 0.768) and %L (R² = 0.386). Females of different size and lipid weight allocated a similar percentage of total-body lipid to egg production; the average (±SE) per female was 22.3±1.45%. Total-body lipid weight explained more of the reproductive performance variation than lipid expressed as percentage of female dry weight. Traditional crayfish measurements (e.g., TL and WW) were equally as effective in explaining reproductive performance variation as the estimated lipid weight of female crayfish.

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