EGG PRODUCTION BY SAND CRABS (EMERITA ANALOGA) AS A FUNCTION OF SIZE AND YEAR CLASS (DECAPODA, HIPPIDAE)

¹ Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106
² Department of Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106

The relationship between egg number, size, and year class was determined for sand crabs (Emerita analoga) collected at three California sites, including two different dates for two of those sites. Size frequency distributions of sand crab population samples collected in 1982 from San Clemente, Goleta (2 dates), and Pismo Beach (2 dates) were separated into three modal size/year classes before plotting the size and egg number data and calculating regressions for egg number as a function of size. The slope of the regressions for within year class data generally decreased with increase in age. Both seasonal and locality differences were found in comparisons of data for individual year classes. The technique can be used to compare egg production between female crabs of similar ages between sites and/or dates.