FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN, sa.9, ss.7765-7772, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
This study was carried out to investigate the relationships between some morphological and reproductive features of the Turkish crayfish, P. leptodactylus, collected from a controlled irrigation lake in the Kocahidir reservoir (Canakkale. Turkey), between July 2015 and June 2016. The sizes at sexual maturity were determined for both female and male individuals in the Kocahidir Irrigation Pond. For female crayfish, the total length of the smallest individual with mature egg ovaries was 83,54 mm and it weighed 15.5 g while the smallest individual that had fertilized eggs in the pleopods had a total length 91.89 mm weighed 23.78 g. The mean number of eggs detected in the female pereiopod as 192 +/- 16, average egg diameter was 2.75 +/- 0.013 mm, and the average egg weight was 0.012 +/- 0.001 g. This study, explored the sexual differences and similarities in freshwater crayfish and their status in the Kocahidir Irrigation Pond was evaluated according to the populations at different localities. As a result, the required strategies for their protection and to ensure a sustainable future for the freshwater crayfish population have been highlighted.