Loher et al.: Growth of Paralithodes camtschaticus 
575 
Carapace length (mm) 
Figure 3 
Length-frequency histograms of early juvenile red king crabs captured in Bristol 
Bay from 1983 to 1991. Each age class is denoted by shading: open bars = age 
0+; shaded bars = age 1+; closed bars = age 2+. For each sampling date an aver- 
age time after settlement (ATAS) is reported. The ATAS is the number of days 
estimated to have elapsed between 15 July of the sampling year (the most recent 
settlement event) and the median sampling date. For example, the ATAS for crabs 
sampled on 15 September was 62 days. This value corresponds to the estimated 
age of age 0+ crabs in that sample, whereas age 1+ crab would have been -365 
days older than the ATAS, and age 2+ crabs -730 days older than the ATAS. Note 
that the June samples fell at nearly one calendar year following the previous 
year’s settlement; hence, age 0+ crab in those samples were nearly age 1. Arrows 
indicate the mean CL of each size cohort, as determined with FiSAT; mean values 
were used to fit the growth curve. 
t s - lag-time between the start of growth and the first 
seasonal growth oscillation; oscillations are sinusoi- 
dal with a one-year period; 
K = intrinsic growth rate; 
C = parameter ranging from 0 to 1 that controls the 
strength of the seasonal growth oscillation; 0 = no 
seasonal signature; 1 = strong seasonality with a brief 
period each year during which growth ceases; and 
D = parameter expressing metabolic deviation from the 
von Bertalanffy 2/3 metabolic rule (in our study, D = 
1 [no deviation]). 
Unalaska and Kodiak islands Growth rate of early juve- 
nile red king crab at Unalaska Island was assessed by 
using data published in Weber ( 1967). In that study imma- 
ture crabs were collected, primarily with SCUBA, during 
four sampling periods in 1958 (22 April-17 May; 30 May-6 
June; 13 July; 17 September-1 October) and two periods in 
1959 (11-24 February; 24 May-2 June). Two data sources 
were used that originated in Kodiak Island: 1) Donaldson 
et al. (1992), who documented growth of red king crab 
in artificial habitat collectors for approximately one year 
after settlement between June 1990 and May 1991, and; 2) 
Dew ( 1990) who collected data on podding age 1+ to 2+ red 
king crab using SCUBA observations between 20 Novem- 
ber 1987 and 3 June 1989. The data in Weber (1967) and 
Dew (1990) were used to construct length-frequency his- 
tograms (males and females pooled) and the characteris- 
