Comparative Evaluation of Scylla species from two fishery conservation areas of East coast of Andhra Pradesh, India.

The documentation of crab landings especially commercially important Scylla species is needed for assessment of landings of crabs and their seasonal availability for better management. These crabs are serving either as live, fresh, boiled, steamed, chilled and smoked form at many popular restaurants. These species are commonly found in shallow coastal waters, lagoons, brackish water lakes, estuaries and mangrove areas. Crabs fishery study is essential to improve the population of crabs in respective areas. Hence the study was aimed to assess the crab’s fishery resources of two species i.e., S. serrata and S. olivacea from two Coastal area of Andhra Pradesh i.e., Kakinada and Visakhapatnam District. The population structure of 2 Scylla species were investigated from January 2016 to December 2017. Maximum crabs were reported during the study period was caught from landing station Chollangi of Kakinada, East Godavari District and Bheemunipatnam from Visakhapatnam District. The crab landings were ranged as Chollangi > Tallarevu > Bhairavapalem > Mutlapalem in Kakinada whereas from Visakhapatnam district crab landings were ranged as Bheemunipatnam > Puddimadaka > Bangarammapalem > Visakhapatnam Harbour. The occurrence of wild seeds of these 2 species have been reported in these areas where they breed continuously at regular intervals. There is an indication of exploitation on the population due to over catching.