Distribution and demography of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) males on the Newfoundland and Labrador Shelf

Dawe, Earl G.; Colbourne, Eugene

doi:10.4027/ccwrbme.2002.42

Cited by 31 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…They also showed that cannibalism (on smaller snow crabs) was overall more prevalent at shallow than deep bottom water depths. We hypothesize that such a depth effect occurs in our study area because smallest males appear to be more prevalent at shallow than at greater depths (Dawe and Colbourne 2002). The high prevalence of cannibalism in our study relative to others is consistent with the hypothesis that cannibalism of early benthic stages by larger snow crabs may represent an intrinsic density-dependent mechanism for maintaining a regular recruitment periodicity (Sainte-Marie et al (1996).…”

Section: Effects Of Predator Size and Sexsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio (O. Fabricius, 1788)) is an important commercial species in the Northwest Atlantic, especially in the Newfoundland and Labrador area (Dawe and Colbourne 2002), where annual landings increased annually from about 10 000 t during the late 1980's to about 69 000 t in 1999 . Long-term trends in fishery performance have exhibited considerable temporal and spatial variation , possibly reflecting variation in recruitment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stomach Contents of Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio, Decapoda, Brachyura) from the Northeast Newfoundland Shelf

Squires¹,

Dawe²

2003

J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci.

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A sample of about 1000 snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) from NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization) Division 3K (Northeast Newfoundland Shelf), taken by bottom trawl for studies of their stomach contents, indicated that about 12 benthic or demersal prey types occurred in their diet from that area. The most frequently occurring prey types were sabellid polychaetes, crustaceans (shrimp, crabs and smaller crustaceans) and infaunal clams (Macoma calcarea). Shrimps (especially pink shrimp, Pandalus borealis) and fishes (especially capelin, Mallotus villosus) were the most important prey types with respect to their percentage contribution to the total food mass. Brittle stars (Ophiuroidea) were regularly preyed upon by males but were virtually absent from the stomach contents of mature females. Males preyed more heavily upon fish and infaunal prey types (polychaetes and clams) whereas females preyed more heavily on shrimp and readily-accessible epibenthic prey types (gastropods, crabs and sea urchins). Males appeared to be more capable predators than were mature females. Predation on fish was related to predator size for both sexes but was most commonly practiced by males that were larger than the maximum size of mature females. However predation on fish was also more commonly practiced by males than by mature females at comparable sizes. There were no other effects of predator size in the predation by males whereas predation by mature females on clams, shrimp, gastropods, sea urchins, and possibly polychaetes increased with predator size. Cannibalism was most frequently practiced by intermediate-sized crabs and more frequently by females than males. Cannibalism was more common in our study than in others reported to date and may represent an important densitydependent source of mortality that could affect recruitment levels and patterns.

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Section: Effects Of Predator Size and Sexsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stomach Contents of Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio, Decapoda, Brachyura) from the Northeast Newfoundland Shelf

Squires¹,

Dawe²

2003

J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci.

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“…Bottomup effects from ocean-climate variability may affect recruitment and abundance in snow crab (Zheng & Kruse 2006, Dawe et al 2008, Boudreau et al 2011. Snow crab generally inhabit regions of very cold water , especially during early benthic and juvenile stages (Dawe & Colbourne 2002, Orensanz et al 2004, and are energetically confined to cold areas (Foyle et al 1989). Hence, their distribution and abundance, as well as survival, may be limited by the spatial extent of cold bottom waters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of temperature and gadid predation on snow crab recruitment: comparisons between the Bering Sea and Atlantic Canada

Marcello¹,

Mueter²,

Dawe³

et al. 2012

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Snow crabs Chionoecetes opilio are found in many subarctic ecosystems, where they are important components of marine food webs and support large commercial fisheries. Snow crab abundance is highly variable, but the causes of large changes in year-class strength are poorly known. We used a regression approach to examine the effects of snow crab spawning stock biomass, bottom water temperature, cold area or sea ice extent, and predation by Pacific cod Gadus macrocephalus or Atlantic cod G. morhua on snow crab recruitment in each of 3 ecosystems: the eastern Bering Sea, the Newfoundland-Labrador Shelf, and the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Comparing results across systems showed that cold ocean conditions during early life history were associated with increased snow crab recruitment or recruitment indices in all 3 ecosystems. However, we found no consistent evidence that spawning stock or gadid biomasses were significantly related to subsequent snow crab recruitment. Our results underscore the value of comparing multiple ecosystems and demonstrate the importance of ocean conditions in driving variability in snow crab populations.

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“…Both species have a boreal-arctic range distribution around North America (Alvsvåg et al, 2009;Bluhm et al, 2009;Bryant, 1991;Comeau et al, 1998;Rand and Logerwell, 2011). They are found over a wide depth range, with C. opilio occurring between 30-1400 m water depth at year round bottom water temperatures of −1.5 to 4°C (Dawe and Colbourne, 2002), and H. coarctatus occurring between 2 and 457 m water depth and a similar temperature range as C. opilio (Bryant, 1991). Both species are found on muddy or sandy grounds, and are carnivorous, cannibalistic and opportunistic feeders, preying on gastropods, ophiuroids, crustaceans, bivalves and polychaetes with polychaetes, bivalves and amphipods being the more frequently consumed prey items by C. opilio in the Chukchi Sea (Bryant,While H. coarctatus is not economically important, C. opilio is one of the most important commercially fished crab species in the North Atlantic and Pacific Lanteigne et al, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are found over a wide depth range, with C. opilio occurring between 30-1400 m water depth at year round bottom water temperatures of −1.5 to 4°C (Dawe and Colbourne, 2002), and H. coarctatus occurring between 2 and 457 m water depth and a similar temperature range as C. opilio (Bryant, 1991). Both species are found on muddy or sandy grounds, and are carnivorous, cannibalistic and opportunistic feeders, preying on gastropods, ophiuroids, crustaceans, bivalves and polychaetes with polychaetes, bivalves and amphipods being the more frequently consumed prey items by C. opilio in the Chukchi Sea (Bryant, 1991;Dawe and Colbourne, 2002;Divine et al, 2015;Ernst et al, 2005;Kolts et al, 2013;Wieczorek and Hooper, 1995a). …”

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confidence: 99%

Size-frequency distribution, growth, and mortality of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and arctic lyre crab (Hyas coarctatus) in the chukchi sea from 2009 to 2013

Groß

Konar

Brey

et al. 2017

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

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Size-frequency distribution, growth, and mortality of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and arctic lyre crab (Hyas coarctatus) A B S T R A C TThe snow crab Chionoecetes opilio and Arctic lyre crab Hyas coarctatus are prominent members of the Chukchi Sea epifaunal community. A better understanding of their life history will aid in determining their role in this ecosystem in light of the changing climate and resource development. In this study, the size frequency distribution, growth, and mortality of these two crab species was examined in 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013 to determine temporal and spatial patterns within the eastern Chukchi Sea, and to identify potential environmental drivers of the observed patterns. Temporally, the mean size of both sexes of C. opilio and H. coarctatus decreased significantly from 2009 to 2013, with the number of rare maximum sized organisms decreasing significantly to near absence in the latter two study years. Spatially, the mean size of male and female crabs of both species showed a latitudinal trend, decreasing from south to north in the investigation area. Growth of both sexes of C. opilio and H. coarctatus was linear over the sampled size range, and mortality was highest in the latter two study years. Life history features of both species related to different environmental parameters in different years, ranging from temperature, the sediment carbon to nitrogen ratio of the organic content, and sediment grain size distribution. Likely explanations for the observed temporal and spatial variability are ontogenetic migrations of mature crabs to warmer areas possibly due to cooler water temperatures in the latter two study years, or interannual fluctuations, which have been reported for C. opilio populations in other areas where successful waves of recruitment were estimated to occur in eight year intervals. Further research is suggested to determine if the spatial and temporal patterns found in this study are part of the natural variability in this system or if they are an indication of long-term trends. IntroductionCrustaceans are one of the most abundant epibenthic organisms in the Chukchi Sea (Bluhm et al., 2009;Feder et al., 2005). As highly mobile organisms, larger crustaceans contribute to the redistribution and remineralisation of organic carbon that falls to the sea floor (Lovrich et al., 1995;Piepenburg et al., 1997). They are one of the main predators in the benthic community, and they also contribute to total benthic energy turnover by providing an important prey base for higher trophic levels such as demersal fish and benthic feeding marine mammals (Frost and Lowry, 1983;Jewett and Feder, 1981).In the Chukchi Sea, the snow crab Chionoecetes opilio (O. Fabricius, 1788) can be one of the most abundant benthic taxa, with the Arctic lyre crab Hyas coarctatus Leach, 1816 also being fairly abundant (Bluhm et al., 2009;Ravelo et al., 2014). Both species have a boreal-arctic range distribution around North America (Alvsvåg et al., 2009;Bluhm et al., 2009;Bryant, 1991;Comeau et...

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Distribution and demography of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) males on the Newfoundland and Labrador Shelf

Cited by 31 publications

References 6 publications

Stomach Contents of Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio, Decapoda, Brachyura) from the Northeast Newfoundland Shelf

Stomach Contents of Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio, Decapoda, Brachyura) from the Northeast Newfoundland Shelf

Effects of temperature and gadid predation on snow crab recruitment: comparisons between the Bering Sea and Atlantic Canada

Size-frequency distribution, growth, and mortality of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and arctic lyre crab (Hyas coarctatus) in the chukchi sea from 2009 to 2013

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