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Changes in Embryonic Development and Hatching in Chionoecetes opilio (Snow Crab) With Variation in Incubation Temperature

Joel B. Webb^*, Ginny L. Eckert, Thomas C. Shirley and Sherry L. Tamone

University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, 11120 Glacier Highway, Juneau, Alaska 99801

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed, at Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Commercial Fisheries Research, PO Box 115526, Juneau, AK 99811-5526. E-mail: joel_webb{at}fishgame.state.ak.us

Water temperature affects the distribution, movement, and reproductive potential of female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio. Ovigerous females of C. opilio from the eastern Bering Sea were held at five temperatures (–1, 0, 1, 3, and 6 °C) in the laboratory while their embryos developed from gastrula to hatching. The duration of incubation increased by 105 d (30%) with decreasing temperature; however, a switch to a 2-year duration of embryo incubation was not observed. For females held at 6, 3, and 1 °C, their embryos underwent a short period of diapause late in development; no diapause was observed for embryos of females held at 0 or –1 °C. Successful extrusion of a subsequent clutch and hatch timing comparable with that observed in the eastern Bering Sea indicated that temperatures of 0 to 3 °C may be optimal for multiparous female reproduction. We demonstrated that a switch from 1-year to 2-year reproduction cannot be triggered by changing the thermal regime after several months of embryonic development. The timing of female movement from colder to warmer waters may be important for maintaining population reproductive potential during the recent phase of warming and contraction of cold-water biomes in the Bering Sea.