Notes on the biology of the deep-sea crab Paramola cuvieri (Risso, 1816) (Decapoda, Homolidae) in the Canary Islands (central-east Atlantic)

Abstract

The box crab (Paramola cuvieri) was relatively frequent in trap catches from 288 to 906 m depth off the Canary Islands (central-east Atlantic), the greatest abundance being recorded between 400 and 700 m. From winter to the beginning of summer, a displacement of adult crabs from deeper waters (800 m) to areas of intermediate depths (600 m) was noted, probably due to reproductive requirements. Although no significant difference was observed in the depth distribution by sexes, larger females were generally caught at shallower depths and ovigerous specimens were mainly caught in the 350-400 m depth interval. Males were heavier, larger, and broader than females, but they were less abundant.

Interannual Variation in the Population Dynamics of Juveniles of the Deep-Sea Crab Chionoecetes tanneri

“…Few studies have focused on population dynamics, with the exception of some harvested species, whether as bycatch such as the portunid crab Bathynectes piperitus in Benguela (Abelló et al, 1990) and the red crab Chaeceon affinis in the Faroes (Lorance, 2007) or as a primary targeted species, e.g., the red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus (ICES, 2010) with its high commercial value (Dvoretsky and Dvoretsky, 2016). Only a subset of those studies has focused on spatial structure at small scales and life-history characteristics (e.g., Abelló et al, 1990;López Abellán et al, 2002;Martí-Trujillo et al, 2014;Biscoito et al, 2015). Indeed, most studies have focused on the estimation of biomass for the management of the development of new fisheries (Defeo et al, 1991;Pezzuto et al, 2006;Perez et al, 2009;Masello and Defeo, 2016).…”