In this paper, we describe and illustrate the morphology of the first larval stage of the prawn Macrobrachium brasiliense. Two ovigerous females were obtained in a stream environment, which belongs to Paraná River Basin, Southeastern of Brazil, and were maintained in laboratory until the time of hatching. The newly-hatched larva bears very advance morphological features, with benthic habits. They had sessile eyes and all appendages, except for the uropods; however, most of the appendages were not fully formed. The description given here is compared with the first larval stage of Macrobrachium species with abbreviated larval development from other localities.

O crescimento relativo e a maturidade sexual morfológica de Chasmagnathus granulatus Dana, 1851 são apresentados pela primeira vez para uma população de manguezal. Os caranguejos foram obtidos durante os períodos de maré baixa, no manguezal da praia do Jabaquara, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Todos os caranguejos em estágio de intermuda foram classificados quanto ao sexo e as seguintes medidas lineares foram tomadas: altura do corpo (AC), altura do própodo do quelípodo maior (APQ), comprimento da carapaça (CC), comprimento do própodo do quelípodo maior (CPQ), largura da carapaça (LC), comprimento do gonopódio (CG) e largura do abdome (LA) para machos e fêmeas, respectivamente. O crescimento relativo foi descrito a partir da equação alométrica y=ax b e o programa Mature I utilizado para a estimativa do tamanho na maturidade. O tamanho dos espécimes variou de 4,1 mm a 39,5 mm de LC. O padrão de crescimento foi diferente entre os sexos nas relações com o quelípodo, as relações AC vs. LC evidenciaram alometria positiva para juvenis, CPQ vs. LC e APQ vs. LC alometria positiva para quase todos caranguejos exceto fêmeas jovens e LA vs. LC e CG vs. LC evidenciaram alometria positiva para jovens e isometria para adultos. As relações que melhor evidenciaram a mudança da fase juvenil para a adulta foram APQ vs. LC para machos e LA vs. LC para fêmeas. O tamanho no qual 50% dos machos da população encontram-se maduros foi estimado em 19,7 mm de LC (F=144,14; p<0,05) e para as fêmeas em 19,2 mm LC (F=166,54; p<0,05). Os tamanhos obtidos nesta população de manguezal são maiores do que aqueles obtidos em estudos anteriores, o que pode ser atribuído a plasticidade da espécie em relação a estrutura do habitat.

The relative growth and morphological sexual maturity of Chasmagnathus granulatus Dana, 1851 are presented for the first time to a mangrove population. The crabs were obtained during low tide periods, in the mangrove of Jabaquara Beach, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All crabs in intermolt stage were sexed and had their body parts measured as follows: body height (BH), carapace length (CL) and width (CW), major cheliped propodus height (PH) and length (PL) for each sex, gonopod length (GL) and abdomen width (AW) for males and females, respectively. The relative growth was described using the allometric equation y=ax b and the size at onset sexual maturity was achieved using the software Mature I. The size of specimens ranged from 4.1 mm to 39.5 mm CW. The growth pattern was different between sexes in the cheliped relationships; the relationships BH vs. CW evidenced positive allometry for juveniles; PL vs. CW and PH vs. CW positive allometry for most crabs except juvenile females; AW vs. CW and GL vs. CW evidenced positive allometry for juveniles and isometry for adults. The relationships that best indicated the change from the juvenile to the adult phase were PH vs. CW for males and AW vs. CW for females. The size in which 50% of males from this population are mature is at 19.7 mm of CW (F=144.14; p<0.05) and for females it is at 19.2 mm of CW (F=166.54; p<0.05). The sizes obtained in this mangrove population are larger than those from previous studies, that could be attributed to a species plasticity concerning the habitat structure.