Morphometric variation of the horseshoe crab Tachypleus gigas (Xiphosura: Limulidae) from the Banyuasin estuarine of South Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract. Fauziyah, Mustopa AZ, Fatimah, Purwiyanto AIS, Rozirwan, Agustriani F, Putri WAE. 2021. Morphometric variation of the horseshoe crab Tachypleus gigas (Xiphosura: Limulidae) from Banyuasin estuarine South Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 5061-5070. Morphological studies are essential for fish resource management, ecology, conservation, and stock assessment. This research was conducted to characterize morphological coastal (Tachypleus gigas) estuarine, The body weight (BW), prosoma width (PW), carapace length (CL), telson (TEL), total (TL) were measured describing morphometric variability T. gigas. A 70 (32 females 38 males) found using trammel net fishing bottom gillnet during survey. Multivariate allometric methods analyzed their characters. Based on Kruskal- Wallis tests, result showed a significant difference in somebody measurements (TL CL) between males females. principal component analysis (PCA) results that all characters had strong correlation both sexes, so first (PC1) values 92% 72%. In comparison, second (PC2) 5% 20% males, respectively. discriminant function (DFA) suggested only one (BW) five separating sexes. Both sexes also revealed variations growth patterns based results. These expected be used as basis managing population-based conservation.