CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The Southern King Crab (SKC) is the most important crab exploited in Southern South America. In the Beagle Channel, SKC fishery peaked during the 80?s, decline afterwards until it was declared overfished during the 90?s. One of the reasons for banning the fishery was the low proportion of ovigerous females. Although fecundity (F, egg-number carried by a female) is a measure of potential larval supply, realized fecundity, (actual number of hatched larvae) is unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the number of larvae released by females during the hatching period compared to historical F data. During 2006 and 2007, a total of 52 ovigerous females were caught at the Beagle Channel (54ºS, 68ºW) and maintained individually in a recirculation seawater system until larvae hatched. Individual hatching occurred over 3-6 weeks. Female carapace length (CL) and the total number of larvae hatched per female (TL) were recorded. Linear regressions of TL on CL were calculated and compared between them and with F by an ANCOVA, and adjusted means (RF) were estimated. TL and F were positively correlated with CL. RF2007 was higher (P<0.05) than RF2006, and both were lower than F (P<0.05). Females lost 16 and 65% of eggs in 2007 and 2006, when compared with F. Although slopes of TL and F regressions were similar, our data indicate that egg-loss was higher in smaller crabs. One of the causes may be onboard female manipulation and returning them to sea during fishing operations

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