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Crabs are an important biological component of the West African lagoon fauna and are exploited by fishing communities. This paper presents a synthesis of the current understanding pertaining to the diversity, biology and exploitation of these crabs in order to identify promising research paths for this zoological group. A literature review was done. Thirty-two species belonging to thirteen families and twenty-three genera have been indexed by previous investigators and we plan on making use of this information in defining future research direction. The biology of crabs has been the subject of much research focused on Callinectes amnicola (Rochebrune, 1883) species. C. amnicola is an omnivorous species whose males are known to mature between 63 and 105 mm shell width, while females mature between 83.5 and 116.2 mm shell width. Fertility varies from 0.47 to 4.8 million eggs per female. However, exploitation parameters for this species in various lagoons are not available. A research direction geared towards establishing a new and thorough inventory along with currently nonexistent but relevant exploitation parameters will go a long way in defining sustainable management measures for these crab species.

REMERCIEMENTS Les auteurs remercient Responsables du Projet de Productivité Agricole en Afrique de l'Ouest (PPAAO) du Programme Cadre d'Appui à la Diversification Agricole (ProCAD) au Bénin pour avoir financé ces travaux. RESUMEL'objectif principal de cette étude est de faire le point des connaissances sur quelques aspects de la morphologie, de la biologie de reproduction et des besoins alimentaires en élevage de M. vollenhovenii afin d'entreprendre son élevage en captivité. L'approche méthodologique utilisée est basée sur la recherche documentaire et a consisté à l'analyse des publications scientifiques, des thèses et livres portant sur la crevette d'eau douce Macrobrachium en général et de Macrobrachium vollenhovenii en particulier. Les larves vivent exclusivement en eau saumâtre. La nutrition larvaire est basée sur le plancton tandis que les adultes sont omnivores à dominance carnivore. La croissance se fait par des mues donnant une population à structure hétérogène. Une femelle mesurant 11,40 cm de taille peut pondre jusqu'à 56481 oeufs. La gamétogenèse comporte 5 phases : phase dominante des cellules immatures, phase d'évolution des cellules immatures, phase dominante des cellules mûres, phase des cellules mûres et phase d'émission des gamètes. Les oeufs, au bout de deux à trois semaines, donnent à l'éclosion de petites larves appelées nauplius qui évolue en zoé et mysis. Biology and breeding prospect of giant fresh water shrimp Macrobrachium vollenhovenii (Herklots, 1857) ABSTRACTThe main target of this study is to give the point of knowledge on some aspects of morphology, on reproduction biology and food needs of M. vollenhovenii in breeding in order to undertake his breeding in captivity. The methodological approach used is based on desk research and consisted in the analysis of L. GANGBE et al. / Int. J. Biol. Chem. Sci. 10(2): 573-598, 2016 574 scientific publications, theses and books on the species of freshwater shrimp Macrobrachium genre in general and in particular Macrobrachium vollenhovenii. The larvae live exclusively out of brackish water. The larval nutrition is based on the plankton while adults are omnivorous with carnivorous predominance. The growth is done by moults giving a population to heterogeneous structure. A female measuring 11.40 cm of size can lay up to 56,481 eggs. The gametogenesis is made up of 5 stages: immature cells dominant stage, immature cells evolution stage, ripe cells dominant stage, ripe cells and gametes issuance stage. Eggs, after two to three weeks, give the hatch small larvae called nauplius that evolves zoe and mysis. After 15 larval stages, metamorphosis occurs between the 17 th and 28 th day to provide post-larvae witch are small replicas in miniature adults.