Distribution and General Biological Features of Snow Crab (<i>Chionoecetes opilio</i>) in the Chukchi and East Siberian Seas

Abstract

Hydrobiological surveys (plankton and benthos, including snow crab) were carried out in the summer of 2003–2020 in the south-western region of the Chukchi Sea. At the west, east, and north edges of C. opilio distribution area in the Chukchi Sea the amounts of the crabs were 5–10 times lower due to the limit of species’ tolerance to hydrological factors and inappropriate trophic base – low mass of zoobenthos. Some gatherings of snow crab C. opilio in northern regions of the Chukchi and the East-Siberian Seas can be considered as dependent, which depends on income from southern regions of the Chukchi Sea. The southern regions of the Chukchi Sea are some kinds of the nursery for development and growth of snow crab larvae and youth until 1–2 years age, from where they migrate into northern deeper regions of the Chukchi Sea, and then more fare into north-eastern region of the East-Siberian Sea.