Role of Arachidonic Acid on Physiology of Edible Fresh Water Crab

Aquaculture is one of the important food producing sectors. Besides fish culture crustacean cultivation became popular worldwide because of its high nutritional and economic value. However limited seed availability has become a bottle neck for widening crustacean culture. Eyestalk ablation is a classical surgical method which has been used to improve seed quantity and quality. Though the technique is successful it resulted in inferior quality of seed and mortality in the brood stock. To overcome this problem researchers developed several non-surgical strategies including hormonal manipulation to promote reproduction in crustaceans. Biological role of Arachidonic acid and their products like prostaglandins in the crustacean physiology was also studied. However mechanism of these compounds is yet to be known clearly in regulating ovarian maturation. To address this lacuna an attempt is made to evaluate the role of Arachidonic acid and the Prostaglandin inhibitors in the regulation of reproduction of edible crab Oziotelphusa senex senex.