Abstract:Although wild Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) offsprings in the Yangtze River basin have better culture performance, the culture performance of different size juveniles is still unclear. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare the growth, survival rate, precocious rate, yield, feed conversion ratio (FCR), final mean body weight and size distribution of wild Eriocheir sinensis offsprings during juvenile culture stage. The results illustrated that:(1) During the growth phase of each month, the average body mass of small-size group juveniles was always lower than that of the large-size group. In the case of female crabs, the weight growth rate (WGR) and specific growth rate (SGR) of the small-size group juveniles were significantly higher than those of the large-size group between June-July and August-September (P<0.05). In terms of male crabs, the WGR and SGR of the small-size group juveniles were significantly higher than those of the large-size group between June-July and July-August (P<0.05).(2) The average body mass of normal coin-size juveniles in the small-size group was lower than that of large-size group, but the survival rate was higher than that of large-size group. The yields of the two group juveniles were slightly different, but there was no significant difference (P>0.05). No precocious crabs were finally found in the small-size group.However, the large-size group juveniles had a certain precocious rate. The FCR of small-size group was significantly lower than that of the large-size group (P<0.05). (3) As for the final size distribution, the small-size group juveniles were mainly concentrated from 0 to 6.00 g, and its proportion was 80.09%. The large-size group juveniles were mainly concentrated from 3.00 to 9.00 g, and its percentage was 70.56%. There are differences in the culture performance of different size juveniles of wild Eriocheir sinensis offsprings during juvenile culture stage. This provides reference for germplasm resource evaluation and exploitation.