Relation of Number of Eggs and Egg Length to Carapace Width in the Brachyuran Crabs Chionoecetes bairdi and C . opilio from the Southeastern Bering Sea and C . opilio from the Gulf of St. Lawrence

The number of eggs attached to pleopods of Chionoecetes bairdi and C. opilio from the southeastern Bering Sea increased at a rate proportional to about the 3.4 and 2.7 power of carapace width, respectively, but for C. opilio from the Gulf of St. Lawrence it increased to the 4.2 power. The range in c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
Main Authors: Haynes, Evan, Karinen, John F., Watson, Jeffrey, Hopson, Daniel J.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1976
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f76-304
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f76-304
Description
Summary:The number of eggs attached to pleopods of Chionoecetes bairdi and C. opilio from the southeastern Bering Sea increased at a rate proportional to about the 3.4 and 2.7 power of carapace width, respectively, but for C. opilio from the Gulf of St. Lawrence it increased to the 4.2 power. The range in carapace width and number of eggs for crabs from the Bering Sea of a given carapace width were considerably greater for C. bairdi than for C. opilio. In the southeastern Bering Sea, the reproductive potential for adult females of C. bairdi with mixed spawning history is approximately 4 times greater than that of C. opilio spawning for the first time. Chionoecetes opilio females with mixed spawning history in the Gulf of St. Lawrence carry more eggs for a given carapace width than first-time spawners from the southeastern Bering Sea. Our data were not sufficient to resolve the question of relative number of eggs for crabs of various ages.