mature at about 60 mm CL and most are mature at about 80 mm CL (Briggs and Mushacke 1979). In 

 contrast, outside of LIS, females begin to mature at sizes substantially larger than in our area. In northern 

 areas low water temperatures retard reproductive maturation, whereas warmer summer water temperatures 

 of LIS favor early maturation of females (Smith 1977; Aiken and Waddy 1980). 



Berried females have comprised between 3.1 and 6.7% of all females caught from 1975 to 1985. 

 Females predominate at Twotree and greater proportions of berried females were caught there (5.1-10.1%) 

 when compared to Jordan Cove (1.0-4.5%) and Intake (1.1-4.3%) (Table 10). 



Table 10. Percentage of berried females at each station and mean carapace lengths from 1975 to 1985. 



Recaptures not included 



The size distribution (range, mean CL) of berried females collected have provided further evidence for the 

 small size at which females become mature in LIS (Table 10). The smallest berried females collected 

 (62-64 mim CL) were between 54-56 mm CL when oviposition first occurred assuming 14% growth per 

 molt. This confirms our carapace length/abdominal width relationship and suggests that 50 mm CL is 

 the size at which females begin to sexually mature in LIS. 



The fact that females mature at a small size in LIS and that over half of the berried females are 

 sublegal size is important because these individuals are able to spawn before growing to marketable size 

 (Fig. 6). 



17 



