Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

ecology of young juveniles in Dutch Harbor that, along with descriptions
of habitat occupied around Kodiak Island (Jewett and Powell 1981; Powell
and Nickerson 1965) and in Kachemak Bay (Sundberg and Clausen 1979) has
led to a hypothesis of strict habitat requirements for survival (Armstrong
1983; Armstrong, et al. 1983b). A working hypothesis in the
beginning of the present study was that O+ juveniles require substrate
that affords both refuge from predators and adequate food (e.g. shell,
cobble, biological materials such as tube worms). The link between the
location of megalops larvae at metamorphosis and appropriate bottom
material was viewed as one critical determinant of year class strength.
Location of such refuge substrate and 0+ to 1+ juveniles was found
previously to be very difficult along the NAS. During a 1982 OCSEAP
project to study feeding habits of small juvenile red king crab, almost
no animals in this size range (about 5 to 25 mm carapace length) were
found using nets, divers and underwater cameras (W. Pearson, Battelle NW
Laboratories, pers. communication). The National Marine Fisheries
Service has caught virtually no crab of this size in over a decade of
extensive sampling (e.g. Otto, et al. 1982). Armstrong, et al. (1983b)
attributed this to inappropriately large gear and little effort nearshore
where they assumed this stage must be most common.
Growth rates of 0+ and older juveniles have been studied and animals
reach mean carapace lengths of about 11 mm, 35 mm, 60 mm and 80 mm at
one, two, three and four years, respectively (Powell and Nickerson 1965;
Weber 1967). Growth models for the species have been developed by
McCaughran and Powell (1977), Reeves and Marasco (1980) and Weber
(1967). Young-of-the-year molt from eight (Powell 1967) to 11 (Weber
1967) times in the first year. Such a high frequency of molting could
make them particularly susceptible to nearshore oil pollution since
ecdysis is the time of greatest sensitivity to toxicant stress (Armstrong,
et al. 1976; Karinen 1981).
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