Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) and Morphometric Studies of Two Morphologically Confused Crabs from Abu Quir, Alexandria, Egypt.

Abstract

Two types of morphologically confused crabs were collected from Abu Quir, Alexandria, Egypt, Callinectes spidus and Callinectes ornatus. The carapace of these crabs was first removed, and the abdominal muscles were fixed in absolute ethyl alcohol. DNA was extracted and restricted by three enzymes, and RFLP technique was conducted. Molecular weight, optical density, flowing bands and Gel-Pro-Analyzer technique were also applied. Morphometric analysis of the two species was applied on the carapace width, carapace length and body weight. The estimation of similarity index applied on the two species was 0.59. In addition, morphometric studies showed no significant difference in the body weight and carapace length of all samples of both males and females. On the other hand, the mean width of carapace of 16.7% of the male samples showed significant difference, while the rest of male and female samples (83.3%) showed no significant difference. In conclusion, the result of RFLP together with the morphometric data may suggest that the two studied crabs belong to one species.