Spatial dynamics of female snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the eastern Bering Sea

By B. Ernst, J. Orensanz, David A. Armstrong. 2005

106 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) migrations in the eastern Bering Sea have long been ignored. Based on preliminary information, we hypothesized that females undergo an extensive ontogenetic migration, tracking down environmental gradients. We analyzed a 25-year time series of survey data and defined ontogenetic stages in terms of a "shell condition index" calibrated with radiochemical methods. "Pseudo-cohorts" of mature females (groups of females that undergo puberty molt in a given year) "recruit" to the mature female pool in the Middle Domain (50–100 m) of the intermediate shelf. Females undergo puberty molt and primiparous mating in winter. Over the next year, they migrate an average net distance of 73.5 nautical miles towards the shelf edge following a predominantly northeast–southwest direction. Maximum post-terminal molt life span is 6–7 years. Results support the hypothesis that the variable tracked is near-bottom temperature. Although near-bottom temperature fields vary from year to year, the corre...

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c332ea5f5d117de653706bd3ef85ed2d8f7b9fed

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. J. Orensanz
2. B. Ernst
3. David A. Armstrong
4. K. Anger

In Global and Planetary Change

1. J. Orensanz
2. B. Ernst
3. David A. Armstrong
4. K. Anger

In Oceanography

1. J. Orensanz
2. B. Ernst
3. David A. Armstrong
4. K. Anger

Citations in the corpus

• Recruitment variation of eastern Bering Sea crabs: Climate-forcing or top-down effects? (2006, background): “Zheng et al. (2001) documented these changes, and Ernst et al. (2005) further examined their spatial dynamics.”
• Density-independent and density-dependent factors affecting temporal changes in spatial distributions of eastern Bering Sea flatfish (2008, background): “Northward shifts in the distributions of snow crabs (Chinoecetes opilio; Ernst et al., 2005) and grey whale feeding grounds (Moore et al., 2003) have also been observed, although for grey whales the depletion of amphipod prey may be a factor (Coyle et al. 2007). Wyllie-Echeverria and Wooster (1998) ”
• Contributions of larval biology to crustacean research: a review (2006, background): “…physiological changes may occur later, especially at the onset of sexual maturity (for instance at the “puberty moult” of majid crabs; Hartnoll, 2001; Ernst et al., 2005), these changes are hardly comparable with the dramatic transitions typically associated with larval development and…”
• VARIATION OF FEMALE SIZE AND STAGE AT MATURITY IN SNOW CRAB (CHIONOECETES OPILIO) (BRACHYURA: MAJIDAE) FROM THE EASTERN BERING SEA (2007, methodology): “Over the eastern Bering Sea (EBS) shelf, in particular, mean female size-at-maturity shows a remarkable latitudinal cline, from ca. 70 mm at 558N to only 40 mm at 638N (Somerton, 1981a, b; Otto, 1998; Zheng et al., 2001; Otto and Pengilly, 2002; Ernst et al., 2005).”