Southern king crab Lithodes santolla specimens were captured during INIDEP research cruises in the San Jorge Gulf (45 degree -47' S, 64 degree -68' W), Argentine Sea, in March, April, July and August 2001 and August 2002. In order to determine qualitative and quantitative characters related to the shell ageing, a macroscopic examination of specimens was performed. The main considered characters were: shell hardness, ventral shell coloration, necrosis development, merus meat content, kind of epibionts, abrasions length on coxa and maximum size of ventral necrosis. A hierarchical grouping from the qualitative characters was elaborated and associations among these characters were established. Thus, a key to discriminate the specimens in different groups was... |