Abstract

Mud crab (Scylla paramamosain) farming is widely developed in Can Gio, however the economic value is not so high because buyers always prefer the crabs which are caught in the mangrove. The hypothesis is that whether there are differences in the food composition between two crab types (farming and mangrove) or not. So, the research was conducted at Can Gio mangrove forest to analyze the stomach content of S. paramamosain. The results were the food ingredients in S. paramamosain in Can Gio including snail shells, crab shells, animal materials, leaves, sand and unidentified materials. The snail shells, animal materials and leaves were dominant food on mangrove Scylla crab’s stomach. Meanwhile, the crab shells, animal materials and sand were main foods in the farming Scylla crab’s stomach. Leaves was the new food composition recorded in S. paramamosain stomach compared to previous studies. The result initially showed that the food composition affected the quality of Scylla paramamosain growing in Can Gio mangrove forest.