Size-at-age of juvenile red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815) in the coastal Barents Sea

• Main Authors: DVORETSKY, Alexander G., DVORETSKY, Vladimir G.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Station Biologique de Roscoff (SBR) 2014
• Subjects: Barents Sea; Dolgaya; Kamchatka; Paralithodes camtschaticus; Red king crab
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.21411/cbm.a.d19fac73; http://application.sb-roscoff.fr/cbm/doi/10.21411/CBM.A.D19FAC73

An analysis of length frequency data was conducted for juvenile red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815) in two coastal sites of the Eastern Murman (Dalnezelenetskaya Bay and Dolgaya Bay, Barents Sea, Russia). For the first time, size-at-age of juvenile crabs (combined data for males and females, ~ 3-90 mm carapace length; age 0-5 yr) was determined by fitting a simple Gompertz growth model to length-frequency data. Size of juvenile crabs at the age 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years was estimated to be 1.2, 9.9, 30.0, 53.3, 71.8 and 83.8 mm, respectively. The resulting size-at- age estimates were compared with those from studies conducted in native areas of red king crab (Bristol Bay, Unalaska and Kodiak Islands and Chaurozovo area of the Western Kamchatka). Size-at-age of early juvenile crabs in the Barents Sea (age 0-3 yr) was smaller than that observed by other researchers at Unalaska or Kodiak but larger than was reported for Bristol Bay. Size of 1-5 years-old Barents Sea crabs (based on conversion to carapace width units) was also larger in comparison to Western Kamchatka. Among the factors influencing growth in juvenile crab, temperature likely has the biggest effect.