Loher et al.: Growth of Paralithodes camtschaticus 
581 
Males 
Females 
Carapace length (mm) 
Figure 6 
Yearly length-frequency histograms for male (left) and female (right) Bristol Bay region 
red king crabs <155 mm CL, 1994-1999, revealing mean size-at-age of the 1990 year class 
with modal progression. Arrows indicate the cohort’s mean CL each year, as determined 
with FiSAT, and dark shading indicates CLs within 1 SD of that mean. The vertical lines 
located at 105 mm CL and 97 mm CL indicate size-at-reproductive recruitment for males 
and females, respectively, as defined by Zheng et al. (1995a, 1995b). 
at size 2.9 of ~40 mm obtained from the growth curve pre- 
sented earlier (Fig. 4, Table 5), these small crab are likely 
age 2.9. At larger sizes, there was considerable overlap 
between modes, suggesting that the mean CL of older 
age classes is quite variable and difficult to distinguish 
among years. 
Bottom temperature 
From 1975 to 1999, area-averaged near-bottom tempera- 
tures in Bristol Bay ranged between a low of 0.7°C in 1976 
and a high of 5.2 °C in 1981 (Fig. 9). In general, the coldest 
temperatures were observed in the 1970s, warmest tern- 
