Abdomen allometry, ovary development, and growth of female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura, Majidae), in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence
Growth and maturation of female snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence were elucidated using carapace size-frequency distributions, indices of molting activity, ovarian mass, and laboratory and field measures of growth per molt. Females develop in three major stages...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
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Canadian Science Publishing
1998
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f97-241 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f97-241 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/f97-241 2024-09-15T18:01:54+00:00 Abdomen allometry, ovary development, and growth of female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura, Majidae), in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence Alunno-Bruscia, Marianne Sainte-Marie, Bernard 1998 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f97-241 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f97-241 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences volume 55, issue 2, page 459-477 ISSN 0706-652X 1205-7533 journal-article 1998 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/f97-241 2024-09-05T04:11:17Z Growth and maturation of female snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence were elucidated using carapace size-frequency distributions, indices of molting activity, ovarian mass, and laboratory and field measures of growth per molt. Females develop in three major stages: immature, with narrow abdomen and no detectable ovaries; prepubescent, with narrow abdomen and previtellogenic followed by vitellogenic ovaries; and adult, with broad abdomen and reproductive capability. Additionally, there is an ephemeral pubescent stage represented by females temporally close to the maturity molt. A reduction in the rate of carapace and abdomen growth occurs at the passage from immature to prepubescent, because energy is diverted into germinal growth, and adulthood is reached at a terminal molt to maturity. The pattern of abdomen growth relative to carapace is complex, consisting in successive phases of low, high, and again low positive allometry with increasing size of immature-prepubescent females. Over the period 1989-1996, a few females became adult at instar VIII at 4.5 years postlarval age, but more commonly, maturity occurred at instars IX and X at ages of 5.5 and 6.5 years, respectively. Average size at maturity may be temperature dependent, and within cohorts, larger females may mature earlier than smaller females. Article in Journal/Newspaper Chionoecetes opilio Snow crab Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 55 2 459 477 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Growth and maturation of female snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence were elucidated using carapace size-frequency distributions, indices of molting activity, ovarian mass, and laboratory and field measures of growth per molt. Females develop in three major stages: immature, with narrow abdomen and no detectable ovaries; prepubescent, with narrow abdomen and previtellogenic followed by vitellogenic ovaries; and adult, with broad abdomen and reproductive capability. Additionally, there is an ephemeral pubescent stage represented by females temporally close to the maturity molt. A reduction in the rate of carapace and abdomen growth occurs at the passage from immature to prepubescent, because energy is diverted into germinal growth, and adulthood is reached at a terminal molt to maturity. The pattern of abdomen growth relative to carapace is complex, consisting in successive phases of low, high, and again low positive allometry with increasing size of immature-prepubescent females. Over the period 1989-1996, a few females became adult at instar VIII at 4.5 years postlarval age, but more commonly, maturity occurred at instars IX and X at ages of 5.5 and 6.5 years, respectively. Average size at maturity may be temperature dependent, and within cohorts, larger females may mature earlier than smaller females. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Alunno-Bruscia, Marianne Sainte-Marie, Bernard |
spellingShingle |
Alunno-Bruscia, Marianne Sainte-Marie, Bernard Abdomen allometry, ovary development, and growth of female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura, Majidae), in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
author_facet |
Alunno-Bruscia, Marianne Sainte-Marie, Bernard |
author_sort |
Alunno-Bruscia, Marianne |
title |
Abdomen allometry, ovary development, and growth of female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura, Majidae), in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_short |
Abdomen allometry, ovary development, and growth of female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura, Majidae), in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_full |
Abdomen allometry, ovary development, and growth of female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura, Majidae), in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_fullStr |
Abdomen allometry, ovary development, and growth of female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura, Majidae), in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_full_unstemmed |
Abdomen allometry, ovary development, and growth of female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura, Majidae), in the northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_sort |
abdomen allometry, ovary development, and growth of female snow crab, chionoecetes opilio (brachyura, majidae), in the northwestern gulf of st. lawrence |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f97-241 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f97-241 |
genre |
Chionoecetes opilio Snow crab |
genre_facet |
Chionoecetes opilio Snow crab |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences volume 55, issue 2, page 459-477 ISSN 0706-652X 1205-7533 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/f97-241 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
container_volume |
55 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
459 |
op_container_end_page |
477 |
_version_ |
1810438963730579456 |