ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an abundance of valuable first-hand information about the aquaculture of portunid crabs. Portunid crabs have great potential in aquaculture. Species of Portunidae targeted for aquaculture include Scylla serrata, Portunus pelagicus, Portunus trituberculatus, Portunus sanguinolentus and Charybdis feriata. Increasing stocking density by 16-fold and doubling the shelter density resulted in production of about 3000 juvenile crabs/m3, although the survival rate dropped to 7.5%. During the entire larval rearing period, every morning 30–40% of the culture tank water is exchanged. For all the zoeal stages vigorous aeration is given, while for megalopa stage, it is marginally reduced. More intensive systems that stock ponds at higher densities using purchased crablets commonly use trash fish or shellfish as feed and can produce 1–2 tonnes/ha/crop. In open production systems, especially with mud crabs, cannibalistic behavior of crabs is a major impediment to their high density production.
