Fecundity of female snow crab Chionoecetes opilio in the northern Okhotsk Sea
2008
Karasev, A.N.
Absolute and relative individual fecundity and relationships between absolute fecundity and carapace width and total weight in females of snow crab Chionoecetes opilio (Fabricius, 1788) were studied in three areas in the northern part of the Okhotsk Sea. In total, 688 mature females with carapace width ranging from 47 to 87 mm were sampled from the catches of crab traps during summer-autumn (June-December) between 1992 and 2005. Average absolute fecundity of females was 29 179 eggs for the northwestern area, 53 040 eggs for the central area and 56 457 eggs for the northeastern area of the northern Okhotsk Sea. After terminal molting C. opilio females reach maturity and spawn at least three times. For all size groups of females, the second brood was the largest in terms of number of eggs. The first brood was about 85,2%, and the third brood was about 92,0% of that in the second brood. Present data indicate that incubation time of each brood is about 2 years and average lifetime of female after reaching maturity (terminal molt) is about 6 years
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