Study of morphometric characteristics of Ocypode rotundata (Miers, 1882) on the south and south western coasts of Qeshm Island, Persian Gulf

Ghost crabs are the largest invertebrates on sandy beaches around the world. The one of type of ghost crabs is Ocypode rotundata which is distributed on sandy beaches of Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. The aim of this study was discrimination of O. rotundata population using 33 morphometric characteristics selected of carapace, walking legs, abdomen, major chela by principle component analysis (PCA) in software of R. For this purpose, samples were collected at low tide by excavating (20-150 cm) in four zones of south and south western of Qeshm Island (Sakoo naft, Souza, Salakh, Kani). According to results, there were differences between individuals of some population in terms of investigated morphometric characteristics. On the other hand, most of the population showed overlapping which could not be separated together completely. Among the obtained morphological index traits are third walking leg length, body height, abdomen length, first part of abdomen width, fifth part of abdomen width, chela and merus length which can be reason for variety between individuals.