Intermolt Durations of Captive Juvenile and Adolescent Male Tanner Crabs Chionoecetes bairdi

Authors: A.J. Paul and J.M. Paul
Pub. no.: RP-02-01
Year: 2001
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In the northern Gulf of Alaska and southeastern Bering Sea the Tanner crab is a ubiquitous benthic invertebrate that is harvested commercially. The change in carapace size following molting has been described but heretofore the intermolt duration has not. Intermolt duration is critical to understanding recruitment to the population because there is no accepted method to age Tanner crabs. The authors examined the effect of temperature on intermolt durations of juvenile and adolescent male crabs. The results show that as males began to produce spermatophores at about 55 mm carapace width, intermolt durations increased. A spermatophore-bearing male of 55 mm CW took about 2.5 times longer to molt than a similar-sized juvenile. Journal of Shellfish Research 20(1):373-376.