There Are three King Crabs and one penny in this photo!
King Grabs Even Shed Their Eyes
Teeth and Tendons In Molting
One of the peculiarities of the
King Crab, a creature most people
regard as peculiar in and of itself,
is its molting characteristic. The
following information is largely
derived, almost word for word,
from the Special King Crab Re
port (April 1, 1961) of the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game,
which through King Crab Biolo
gist Guy Powell, has perused this
information herein presented for
accuracy.
When king crabs molt, they
shed virtually their entire out
er covering including the cov
ering of their antennae as well
as their eyes, gills, teeth and
even parts of their stomachs
and their tendons. Age de
termination of individual crabs
is therefore understandably diffi
cult, since nothing resembling oto
liths (ear bones), scales, teeth or
other organs that often show sea
sonal or periodic deposition of
material is available to the work
er.
The male molting season reach
es its peak by mid-April or one
month prior to the peak of the
female molt during mid-May. Soon
after the female crabs cast their
shells, reproduction begins. Once
sexual maturity has been attained,
crabs molt annually. Larger male
crabs often assume non-molting
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periods as they grow older, re
maining within their old shells
for two or three years. Females
molt annually as a necessity for
reproduction.
Immature male and female
crabs molt many times each year,
casting off their exo-skeletons
(old shells) at the time they are
prepared to increase their size.
After completion of larval molt
ing, king crabs molt eight times
during their first year of life, five
the second, three the third, and
two the fourth, after which an
nual molting is assumed.
Actual observations of the molt
ing of nine mature females were
made in 1958 aboard Wakefield’s
trawler, the “Deep Sea.” Aver
age length increase per molt was
four millimeters. The one molt
that was timed required four min
utes for completion.
Many small immature crabs held
in live boxes and office aquaria in
the Kodiak area have been ob
served molting. Amos Burg, Di
rector of the Alaska Department
of Fish and Game Education and
Information Division, took suc
cessful movies of the entire molt
ing process. Data was recorded
for four small males as they molt
ed. The approaching molt was
easily detected since the crabs
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turned a dark purple color approx
imately two days in advance.
Abdominal swelling begins ap
proximately four hours before
the actual molt, with an increase
of approximately five times the
normal size. Just prior to molt
ing, the abdominal plates are eas
ily seen peeling off and hanging
from the abdomen by the degener
ated, thin chitinous membrane
that once held them firmly togeth
er. The average time required for
molting was 5 minutes, 15 seconds,
beginning at the time the carap
ace first started moving up and
forward.
Many crabs held under adverse
conditions (including a poor food
(Continued on Page 15)
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