There is currently a global high market demand for soft-shell crabs, which are priced much higher than crabs in hard-shell conditions. In order to harvest crabs in soft-shell conditions, they are reared and collected as soon as they molt, and limb autotomy is commonly used to hasten the molting process. In this study, we compared full limb autotomy (the removal of all the appendages except for the swimming legs), partial limb autotomy (the removal of the walking legs), and traditional rearing methods (control) using immature mud crab () juveniles. The longest and shortest molt cycle duration was observed in the control group and the full limb autotomy group, respectively. The molting percentage was the highest in the full limb autotomy group (females) and in the partial and full limb autotomy groups (males; no significant difference between the groups). The survival rate was unaffected by limb autotomy. Post-molting, the carapace length (CL) and body weight (BW) increments of both sexes, and the carapace width (CW) increment of males were the highest in the control group. The average BW after molting was the highest in the control group, followed by the partial and then the full limb autotomy group. The average total harvest weight, however, was lowest in the control group, while no significant difference was observed between the limb autotomy treatments, owing to their low molting percentage and resulting weight gain per animal. Thus, although limb autotomy (partial or full) significantly shortened the duration of the molt cycle, it may not be as efficient as traditional rearing methods as it resulted in soft-shell crabs of lower aesthetic value (with missing limbs or uneven limb sizes), body size, and weight, all of which are important criteria for determining crab prices.

中文翻译：

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与软壳蟹（Scylla olivacea）生产中的传统饲养相比，肢体自切术真的有效吗？


目前，全球市场对软壳蟹的需求量很大，其价格远高于硬壳蟹。为了在软壳条件下收获螃蟹，它们在蜕皮后立即饲养和收集，通常采用肢体自切术来加速蜕皮过程。在本研究中，我们使用未成熟青蟹（）幼体比较了全肢自切（去除游泳腿以外的所有附肢）、部分肢体自切（去除行走腿）和传统饲养方法（对照）。对照组和全肢自切组分别观察到最长和最短的蜕皮周期持续时间。全肢自切组（雌性）、部分和全肢自切组（雄性；组间无显着差异）的蜕皮率最高。存活率不受肢体自切术的影响。蜕皮后，对照组中两性的背甲长度（CL）和体重（BW）增量以及雄性的背甲宽度（CW）增量最高。对照组蜕皮后平均体重最高，其次是部分肢体自切组，最后是全肢自切组。然而，对照组的平均总收获重量最低，而肢体自切治疗之间没有观察到显着差异，因为它们的蜕皮率较低，并且每只动物的体重增加。 因此，尽管肢体自切（部分或全部）显着缩短了蜕皮周期的持续时间，但它可能不如传统饲养方法有效，因为它会导致软壳蟹的审美价值较低（肢体缺失或肢体大小不均匀）体型、体型、重量等都是决定螃蟹价格的重要标准。