Population Structure of Adult Blue Crabs, Callinectes sapidus, in Relation to Physical Characteristics in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey
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- 作者：Paul R. Jivoff ; Jennifer M. Smith ; Valerie L. Sodi…
- 关键词：Blue crab ; Abundance ; Sex ratio ; Size ; Reproductive potential ; Salinity
- 刊名：Estuaries and Coasts
- 出版年：2017
- 出版时间：January 2017
- 年：2017
- 卷：40
- 期：1
- 页码：235-250
- 全文大小：
- 刊物类别：Earth and Environmental Science
- 刊物主题：Environment, general; Ecology; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Environmental Management; Coastal Sciences; Water and Health;
- 出版者：Springer US
- ISSN：1559-2731
- 卷排序：40
文摘
Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) are an important species in coastal or lagoonal estuaries where adult population characteristics may differ as compared to drowned-river estuaries. Barnegat Bay, in southern New Jersey, is composed of two large embayments: one without and one with a salinity gradient. We tested the influence of physical characteristics on the abundance, sex ratio, and size of adult blue crabs and examined variation in measures of reproductive potential (e.g., sperm stores) in both sexes in Barnegat Bay from June to September, 2008–2009. Population structure was distinct between the embayments due to sex-specific responses to salinity: male abundance was negatively correlated with salinity whereas adult females were more abundant in high salinity because of proximity to Barnegat Inlet. This produced high sex ratios in low salinity areas and low sex ratios in high salinity areas. Summer was a growing season for adult males while in late summer-early fall, juvenile males recruited to the adult size class. The spawning season lasted from May to August and ovigerous females were concentrated near the inlets. Information on female sperm stores and ovarian development identified two cohorts of adult females: females that will spawn in the current summer and females that will not spawn until the following summer. Thus, not all adult females near the spawning grounds were members of the current spawning stock. This suggests that annual estimates of spawning stock size which overlook the proximity of females to spawning are overestimating the current spawning stock in Barnegat Bay and other estuaries.