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King Crab

Red King Crab

A family of crab-like decapod crustaceans chiefly found in cold seas. Their large size means that many species are widely caught and sold as food. King crabs are generally believed to be derived from hermit crab ancestors, which may explain the asymmetry still found in the adult forms. Although some doubt still exists about this theory, king crabs are the most widely-quoted example of carcinization among the Decapoda.

Life Stages

Life history stages of king and Tanner crabs were defined according to accepted habitat usage: eggs, larvae, early juveniles, late juveniles, and mature crabs (Tyler and Kruse 1996, 1997; Epifanio 1988).

Egg Stage

Female king and Tanner crab extrude eggs, carry and nurture them outside the maternal body. The number of eggs developed by the female increases with body size and is linked to nutrition at favorable temperatures. Information on egg bearing females is used to define habitat for the egg stage of crabs.

Larval Stage

Successful hatch of king and Tanner crab larvae is a function of temperature and concentration of diatoms so presence of larvae in the water column can vary accordingly. Larvae are planktonic. They are minute forms and their sustained horizontal swimming is inconsequential compared to horizontal advection by oceanographic conditions. Larvae vertically migrate within the water column to feed. Diel vertical migration may be a retention mechanism to transport larvae inshore.

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Early Juvenile Stage

The early juvenile stage includes crabs first settling on the bottom (glacothoe and megalops), young of the year crabs, and crabs up to a size approximating age 2. Habitat relief is obligatory for red and blue King crabs of this life stage. Individuals are typically less than 20mm CL distributed in nearshore waters among niches provided by sea star arms, anemones, shell hash, rocks and other bottom relief. Early juvenile Tanner crab settle on mud, are known to occur there during summer but are not easily found in this habitat in winter.

Late Juvenile Stage

The late juvenile stage for crab is defined as the size at about age 2 to the first size of functional maturity. Late juvenile crabs are typically found further offshore in cooler water than early juvenile crabs. Smaller red king crabs of this life stage form pods during day that break apart during the night when the crabs forage and molt. As these crabs increase in size, podding behavior declines and the animals are found to forage throughout the day.

Mature Stage

Mature crabs are defined as those crabs of a size that is functionally mature. Functional maturity is based on size observed in mating pairs of crabs. This maturity definition differs from morphometric maturity based on chela height and physiological maturity when sperm or eggs can be produced. The mature stage includes crabs from the first size of functional maturity to senescence.

BSAI

Egg Level 1 & 2

Egg hatch of larvae is synchronized with the spring phytoplankton bloom in Southeast Alaska suggesting temporal sensitivity in the transition from benthic to planktonic habitat. Essential habitat of the red king crab egg stage is based on the general distribution (level 1) and habitat related density (level 2) of egg bearing redkingcrabs of the Bristol Bay, Pribilof Islands, Norton Sound and Dutch Harbor stocks. General distribution (level 1) of egg bearing female red kingcrab is used to identify essential habitat for the Adak stock.

Larvae -Level 1 & 2

Red king crab larvae spend 2 - 3 months in pelagic larval stages before settling to the benthic life stage. Reverse diel migration and feeding patterns of larvae coincide with the distribution of food sources. Essential habitat is identified for larvae of the Bristol Bay redkingcrab stock using the general distribution (level 1) and density (level 2) of larvae in the water column. Essential habitat is defined for larvae of the Pribilof Islands stock based on knowledge of the general distribution (level 1) of larvae in the water column. No essential habitat is defined for larvae of red king crab stocks in Norton Sound, Dutch Harbor and Adak waters.

Early Juvenile - Level 1

Early juvenile stage red king crabs are solitary and need high relief habitat or coarse substrate such as boulders, cobble, shell hash, and living substrates such as bryozoans and stalked ascidians. Young-of-the-year crabs occur at depths of 50 m or less. Essential habitat for early juveniles is defined for Bristol Bay red king crabs as the general distribution (level 1). No essential fish habitat is defined for red kingcrab early juveniles in Pribilof Islands, Norton Sound, Dutch Harbor and Adak stocks.

Late Juvenile - Level 2

Late juvenile stage red king crabs of the ages of two and four years exhibit decreasing reliance on habitat and a tendency for the crab to form pods consisting of thousands of crabs. Podding generally continues until four years of age (about 6.5 cm), when the crab move to deeper Ewater and join adults in the spring migration to shallow water for molting and mating. Essential habitat based on general distribution (level 1) and density (level 2) of late juvenile red king crabs is known for Bristol Bay, Pribilof Islands, Norton Sound and Dutch Harbor stocks. Essential habitat is not defined for late juvenile red king crabs in the Adak stock.

Mature -Level 1 & 2

Mature red king crabs exhibit seasonal migration to shallow waters for reproduction. The remainder of the year red king crabs are found in deep waters. In Bristol Bay, red kingcrabs mate when they enter shallower waters (<50 m), generally beginning in January and continuing through June. Males grasp females just prior to female molting, after which the eggs (43,000 to 500,000 eggs) are fertilized and extruded on the female's abdomen. The female red king crab carries the eggs for 11 months before they hatch, generally in April. Essential habitat for mature red kingcrabs is known for Bristol Bay, Pribilof Islands, Norton Sound and Dutch Harbor stocks based on general distribution (level 1) and density (level 2). Essential habitat for mature red king crabs in Adak is known from general distribution data (level 1).

GOA

Life History and General Distribution

Red king crab (Paralithodes camtshaticus) is widely distributed throughout the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska, Sea of Okhotsk, and along the Kamchatka shelf. On the coast of North America it is found from Point Barrow, Alaska, to the Queen Charlotte Islands and waters adjacent to mainland northern British Columbia. Red king crab occupy depths from the intertidal region (young-of-the-year crabs) to 366 meters. Redkingcrab molt several times per year through age 3 after which molting is annual. At larger sizes, kingcrab may molt less frequently than annually as growth slows. Females grow more slowly and do not attain the size of males. In the northeastern Gulf of Alaska, fifty percent maturity is attained by females at 106 mm (about 6 yrs.). Natural mortality of adult red king crab males increases with size and has been estimated to reach about 25 percent per year (M=0.3) in crab greater than 135 mm carapace length, owing to old age, disease, and predation.

Fishery

Red king crab fisheries have been prosecuted in the Gulf of Alaska since 1954. The gear has evolved to include side loading mesh covered pots approximately 6 to 8 feet square and top loading pyramid or conical style gear. Discrete populations are found in the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak, Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound and Southeastern Management areas.

Historically, the red king crab fishery has been Alaska’s top shellfish fishery. Since the mid-1950’s fishermen have harvested over 1 billion pounds of redkingcrab from Gulf of Alaska waters. The peak harvest came in 1965 when approximately 113 million pounds were landed from the five management areas. The Kodiak area was the major contributor at 94 million pounds. A near peak harvest occurred in the 1980/81 season, but three years later the fishery had crashed with the harvest down sixty-fold and all management areas in the Gulf closed completely for the first time.

A long period of few juvenile king crabs surviving to adult size was the reason for the crash. Biologists theorize that fish predation on kingcrabs and/or a warmer ocean environment were possibly responsible for the low numbers of red king crabs rather than overfishing. Their populations remain depressed and fisheries have not been open since 1983 with the exception of a small fishery in inside waters of Southeastern Alaska, that has occurred yearly since 1993.
www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/habitatprotection/profile/alaska/redking_crabhome.htm

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