Temporal Variation in Juvenile Blue Crab Mortality: Nearshore Shallows and Cannibalism in Chesapeake Bay
Adult abundance is determined by both recruitment and survival of juveniles. Blue crabs exhibit a distinct population size-structure reflecting seasonal cycles of recruitment and growth in the Rhode River, a subestuary lacking submerged vegetation in central Chesapeake Bay. Seasonally
shifting modes in the size-structure, corresponding to juvenile, prepubertal and mature crabs, allowed trawl catches to be partitioned into 0+ and 1+ year classes of the crabs' 2–3 year life span. Fluctuations in the annual abundance of the year classes during 1988–1993 indicated
that abundance of 0+ juveniles was not a good predictor of 1+ year-class abundance. We used tethering techniques to assess sources of, and temporal variation in, juvenile blue crab mortality as a function of water depth in the nearshore shallows of the subestuary. Laboratory experiments and
analysis of remains of crabs tethered in the field indicated that cannibalism by large blue crabs was the source of 75–97% of mortality of juveniles. Crabs 30–50 mm CW suffered significantly higher mortality than 50–70 mm crabs. Mortality of tethered juveniles was significantly
lower in shallow (15 cm) than deep (>70 cm) water. Mortality rates did not differ between day and night periods. Mortality of tethered juvenile blue crabs was high (40–90% per day) and exhibited significant seasonal and annual variation from 1989–1993; and water depth showed
significant interaction effects with these components of temporal variability. Multiple regression analysis indicated that water temperature, abundance of 1+ year-class crabs in deep-water trawls, and abundance of 0+ year-class crabs in nearshore seines accounted for 82% of the annual variation
in mortality of juveniles tethered at medium (40 cm) depth. Together, these results emphasize the importance of the nearshore shallows and body size as a crucial refuges for juvenile blue crabs encountering intense, but temporally variable cannibalism by large crabs. Juvenile mortality may
be an important variable regulating population dynamics of blue crabs.
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 November 1995
- The Bulletin of Marine Science is dedicated to the dissemination of high quality research from the world's oceans. All aspects of marine science are treated by the Bulletin of Marine Science, including papers in marine biology, biological oceanography, fisheries, marine affairs, applied marine physics, marine geology and geophysics, marine and atmospheric chemistry, and meteorology and physical oceanography.
- Editorial Board
- Information for Authors
- Subscribe to this Title
- Terms & Conditions
- Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content