1. Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute,Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences,Guangzhou 510380 ,China; 2. Aqua-life College,Shanghai Ocean University,Shanghai 201306,China
Abstract: The Asian yellow pond turtle Mauremys mutica as a common turtle species in East Asia is a candidate for aquaculture in China. In this paper, the effects of maternal body size （small, 783.0 g±55.2 g; middle,991.3 g±62.3 g; large, 1248.5 g±122.9 g） on reproductive parameters were studied in the turtle. There were significant differences in monthly fecundity in different maternal body sizes during the reproduction period, higher fecundity in the small maternal body size on first and last month than those in the other maternal body sizes. There was a positive relationship among egg quantity, average fecundity and incubation rate and the maternal body size within population while there was a negative relationship between the average nest number and the maternal body size. The clutch size and egg mass and egg width increased with increase in the maternal body size, very significant differences in the clutch size among the maternal body sizes （P 〈 0. 001 ）. There was greater ratio of egg length and width in the small maternal body size than that in the large maternal body sizes without significant difference, indicating that the female turtles with large body size had more offspring.
2009, Vol. 24 
