Abstract
Commercial capture of female Dungeness crabs, Cancer magister, is prohibited and minimum size limits for commercial harvest of male crabs are designed to allow most males to mate at least once before capture. Annual exploitation rates often exceed 90%, however, and the resulting scarcity of large males might reduce mating success among large females. We present new data regarding (i) sizes of male and female crabs collected in premating embraces, (ii) carapace width frequencies of female Dungeness crabs, (iii) presence of sperm plugs and sperm, and (iv) fecundity. Minimum carapace width of hard-shelled mating males typically exceeds postmolt carapace width of soft-shelled females (i), but female Dungeness crabs exceeding the minimum legal size of males usually account for less than 5% of mature adult female crabs (ii), and sublegal-sized males actively participate in mating (i). Remnants of sperm plugs, definitive indicators of mating, were found in 97.5% of recently molted large females (iii), suggesting that virtually all molting females mate regardless of size. On the basis of (ii) and (iv), hypothetical worst-case calculations, assuming that no large females could find mates, suggest that total egg production would be reduced by no more than 2-25% among molting female crabs.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 655-669 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 1997 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Aquatic Science
Cite this
Does intense fishing on males impair mating success of female Dungeness crabs? / Hankin, David G.; Butler, Terrance H.; Wild, Paul W.; Xue, Qian Li.
In: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Vol. 54, No. 3, 01.01.1997, p. 655-669.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Does intense fishing on males impair mating success of female Dungeness crabs?
AU - Hankin, David G.
AU - Butler, Terrance H.
AU - Wild, Paul W.
AU - Xue, Qian Li
PY - 1997/1/1
Y1 - 1997/1/1
N2 - Commercial capture of female Dungeness crabs, Cancer magister, is prohibited and minimum size limits for commercial harvest of male crabs are designed to allow most males to mate at least once before capture. Annual exploitation rates often exceed 90%, however, and the resulting scarcity of large males might reduce mating success among large females. We present new data regarding (i) sizes of male and female crabs collected in premating embraces, (ii) carapace width frequencies of female Dungeness crabs, (iii) presence of sperm plugs and sperm, and (iv) fecundity. Minimum carapace width of hard-shelled mating males typically exceeds postmolt carapace width of soft-shelled females (i), but female Dungeness crabs exceeding the minimum legal size of males usually account for less than 5% of mature adult female crabs (ii), and sublegal-sized males actively participate in mating (i). Remnants of sperm plugs, definitive indicators of mating, were found in 97.5% of recently molted large females (iii), suggesting that virtually all molting females mate regardless of size. On the basis of (ii) and (iv), hypothetical worst-case calculations, assuming that no large females could find mates, suggest that total egg production would be reduced by no more than 2-25% among molting female crabs.
AB - Commercial capture of female Dungeness crabs, Cancer magister, is prohibited and minimum size limits for commercial harvest of male crabs are designed to allow most males to mate at least once before capture. Annual exploitation rates often exceed 90%, however, and the resulting scarcity of large males might reduce mating success among large females. We present new data regarding (i) sizes of male and female crabs collected in premating embraces, (ii) carapace width frequencies of female Dungeness crabs, (iii) presence of sperm plugs and sperm, and (iv) fecundity. Minimum carapace width of hard-shelled mating males typically exceeds postmolt carapace width of soft-shelled females (i), but female Dungeness crabs exceeding the minimum legal size of males usually account for less than 5% of mature adult female crabs (ii), and sublegal-sized males actively participate in mating (i). Remnants of sperm plugs, definitive indicators of mating, were found in 97.5% of recently molted large females (iii), suggesting that virtually all molting females mate regardless of size. On the basis of (ii) and (iv), hypothetical worst-case calculations, assuming that no large females could find mates, suggest that total egg production would be reduced by no more than 2-25% among molting female crabs.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85047675930&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1139/f96-308
DO - 10.1139/f96-308
M3 - Article
VL - 54
SP - 655
EP - 669
JO - Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
JF - Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
SN - 0706-652X
IS - 3
ER -