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Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

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egg condition for females. Analysis of these data was performed without<br />

the use of the computerized data management system due to the small<br />

sample size. Length data were tabulated to show the distribution of<br />

crabs by age class. Geographical plots were produced to show the<br />

distribution of post-larval crabs by age within each cruise.<br />

Assignment of relative age at size for the immature king crab was taken<br />

from Weber (1967) who examined the growth of immature king crabs from<br />

the southeastern Bering Sea. The average <strong>and</strong> range of the carapace<br />

length of crabs at ages 1, 2 <strong>and</strong> 3 are 11 <strong>and</strong> 9-14 mm, 35 <strong>and</strong> 29-41<br />

mm, <strong>and</strong> 60 <strong>and</strong> 50-67 mm, respectively. Weber (1967) gave the average<br />

size of age 4 crab as 78 mm; however, no size range for this age was<br />

presented. After examination of the means <strong>and</strong> ranges of smaller age<br />

classes, a conservative range of ±4 mm (74-82 mm) was assumed for age 4<br />

crabs. The size of 82 mm was chosen as the cut-off for age 4 crabs, in<br />

part because the smallest ovigerous female that was found in this survey<br />

was 83 mm. All crabs >83 mm were assigned the age of 4++. Since growth<br />

for the sexes is similar until the fourth year of life at approximately<br />

80 mm (Weber 1967), size data for males <strong>and</strong> females to 82 mm were<br />

combined.<br />

The emphasis of the post-larval part of this study is on crabs of age<br />

3 years <strong>and</strong> younger. Accordingly, these individuals (83 mm) are "adults". Crabs age 3+ <strong>and</strong> 4 (>68 <strong>and</strong>

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