578 
Fishery Bulletin 99(4) 
Table 3 
Points used to construct the Kodiak early juvenile red king crab growth curve. Data from Donaldson et al. (1992) come directly 
from their Table 1; data from Dew (1990) are compiled from his Figures 7 and 8. 
Collection date 
Estimated age 
(days after settlement) 
Size range 
(mm) 
Mean size (mm: 
±SD 
Donaldson et al. (1992) 
14 Jun 1990 
0 
1.9-2. 4 
2.18 ±0.118 
28 Jun 1990 
14 
1.8-2. 6 
2.18 ±0.171 
13 Jul 1990 
29 
2. 0-3. 3 
2.61 ±0.363 
26 Jul 1990 
42 
2. 5-3. 4 
2.84 ±0.152 
10 Aug 1990 
57 
2. 4-4. 2 
3.64 ±0.408 
23 Aug 1990 
70 
2. 6-5. 4 
3.78 ±0.362 
7 Sep 1990 
85 
3.4-5. 1 
4.47 ±0.421 
21 Sep 1990 
109 
4. 2-6. 4 
4.98 ±0.605 
16 Oct 1990 
124 
3.4-6. 1 
5.29 ±0.491 
4 Dec 1990 
173 
4. 6-7. 9 
6.58 ±0.703 
11 Feb 1991 
212 
4. 6-9.0 
7.71 ±1.201 
27 Mar 1991 
257 
6.1-10.3 
7.95 ±0.769 
14 May 1991 
335 
8.7-13.0 
10.46 ±1.079 
29 May 1991 
350 
8. 6-9. 9 
9.33 ±0.474 
Dew (1990) 
6 Oct 1988 
480 
17.5-34.0 
25.67 ±2.446 
18 Nov 1988 
523 
19.0-35.5 
27.87 ±2.795 
20 Nov 1987 
525 
22.0-32.5 
26.93 ±2.572 
18 Dec 1987 
553 
22.0-27.4 
28.10 ±2.726 
24 Feb 1989 
621 
25.0-43.0 
35.27 ±3.693 
8 Mar 1988 
641 
22.0-41.5 
34.09 ±3.688 
19 Apr 1988 
675 
26.5-44.5 
36.49 ±3.176 
3 Jun 1988 
720 
31.0-49.0 
40.18 ±3.361 
growth rate observed at Unalaska Island was most similar 
to that at Kodiak Island, and very little seasonal signature 
could be detected. Estimated mean size at age 2 at Un- 
alaska Island (37.6 mm CL) was much closer to the value 
estimated for Kodiak Island (42.2 mm CL) than for Bris- 
tol Bay (22.7 mm CL, Table 5); at age 3, Bristol Bay crabs 
were expected to average ~20 mm smaller than crabs ob- 
served at Unalaska Island. It is important to note that 
the choice of settlement dates for the models had negli- 
gible effect on size-at-age estimates, except where such 
changes caused cohorts to be re-assigned to younger age 
classes than seemed reasonable (i.e. if early spring settle- 
ment dates had been chosen, very small crabs would have 
been assigned to late age 0, instead of being considered 
immediately postsettlement crabs). Changes in settlement 
date primarily affected estimated size-at-age over the first 
few months but had little impact on estimation of size at 
1, 2, or 3 years after settlement. 
Late juvenile through early reproductive-age crabs 
Male red king crabs collected in NMFS trawl surveys 
from 1975 to 1999 ranged from 6 to 201 mm CL, and all 
Table 4 
Comparison of coefficient of determination (r 2 ) goodness- 
of-fit values associated with seasonalized Gompertz and 
von Bertalanffy growth curves fitted to early juvenile red 
king crab size-at-age data. 
Region 
Gompertz 
von Bertalanffy 
Bristol Bay 
0.968 
0.842 
Unalaska Island 
0.922 
0.863 
Kodiak Island 
0.995 
0.919 
sizes between 23 and 198 mm CL were observed. Female 
red king crabs ranged from 7 to 192 mm CL; all sizes 
between 24 and 165 mm CL. Over the entire time series, 
two particularly strong year classes recruited to the Bris- 
tol Bay population whose growth and size-at-age char- 
acteristics could be tracked by modal size progression. 
The first year class was evident from 1979 to 1984, first 
appearing as size modes with mean CL = ~32 mm and 
