FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 74, NO. 4 

 69 'SS" 



Figure 1. -Chart of Boothbay region 

 with a seaward view at low tide of the 

 intertidal beach of Grimes Cove, East 

 Boothbay, Maine. 



appeared during September 1972 and late August 

 1973 and 1974. This seasonal appearance of young 

 crabs agreed with earlier observations of female 

 rock crabs hatching their eggs in late spring and 

 early summer in Maine waters (Krouse 1972) and 

 the culture work of Sastry (1970) which demon- 

 strated that 40 - 60 days are required for rock crabs 

 to develop through the pelagic larval stages to the 

 first crab stage at 15°C and a salinity of 307oo. 



Histograms showed a gradual upward progres- 

 sion of the first modal grouping (comprised of 



950 



young-of-the-year crabs, <10 mm CW) from 

 August through December 1974, while distribu- 

 tions from January through April 1975 revealed 

 relatively little change (Figure 2). This apparent 

 cessation of growth was further supported by 

 sighting very few, if any, cast exoskeletons and/or 

 soft-shelled crabs while sampling during the 

 winter. At other times of the year, when crabs 

 were growing, numerous recently cast shells 

 and/or shedders were readily observed. In spring 

 when growth resumed, the percentages of in- 



