Growth and morphological differences between the sexes and female fecundity of Ocadia sinensis.

In this study,artificially hatched Ocadia sinensis individuals were cultured for 60 months,to record the growth and development process and investigate the morphological characteristics between the sexes and individual fecundity of O. sinensis. Results showed that the main morphological differences between male and female individuals are concentrated in secondary sexual characteristics: female turtle individuals have flat or slightly prominent sternites,short tails,short length from anal pore to sternite trailing edge; male turtle individuals have concave sternites,relatively stout tails,large length from anal pore to sternite trailing edge. There were significant differences in the growth of male and female individuals,in the first 12 months,female individuals grew faster than male individuals, with greater carapace length,carapace width and weight,but the differences between male and female individuals were not significant; in the late stage,the growth rate of female individuals was much higher than that of male individuals; by the end of the experiment,the average weight of female individuals was 3. 86 times of that of male individuals. Regression analysis of female fecundity showed that the clutch size of O. sinensis had significant regression relationship with carapace length and weight,the fertility of female individuals was improved with the increasing size( carapace length and weight).