Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

conclusions of Slizkin (1973) who reported finding no small juveniles
over expansive areas of sand/silt bottom. Rather, these stages are
abundant in areas of cobble and dense sponge, hydroid and barnacle
assemblages.
Distribution and abundance of larval stages is poorly studied and
only a few observations about the Pribilofs are available (Armstrong et
al. 1981).
Larval densities of blue king crab seem to be an order of
magnitude less than high values recorded for red king crab, and larvae
have only been found to the east of the Pribilofs.
Estimates of benthic blue king abundance made by NMFS indicate less
fluctuation than found for red king crab, but still populations have
decreased in recent years (Otto et al. 1981, 1982). Legal males (>134
mm) have declined from an estimated abundance of 9.4 million in 1977 to
2.2 million in 1982, and sexually mature females were calculated to be
35.5 million animals in 1978 and 8.6 million in 1982. Otto et al.
(1982) conclude that stocks will remain low for several years.
3.2.2 General Biology
There is relatively little biological information published on blue
king crab although Somerton and MacIntosh (1982, 1983a, 1983b) have
recently summarized work from the Bering Sea and Kodiak Island.
Animals
are thought to grow at a rate comparable to red king crab and reach
sexual maturity at about 96 mm and 108 mm carapace length for females
and males, respectively, when they are about 6 years old (Powell and
Nickerson 1965; Somerton and MacIntosh 1982; Weber 1967).
Fecundity of
females is a function of body size and ranges from 50,000-200,000 eggs
550