First Record and Potential for Red King Crab Paralithodes camtschaticus (Crustacea Decapoda Lithodidae) Population Establishment in the White Sea

摘要

An ovigerous female of red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) was caught near the White Sea Biological Station of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kandalaksha Bay, outer part of Chupa Inlet, Krivozerskaya Cove, Cape Kartesh) on August 21, 2013. That was the first record of the red king crab (an alien species having been established in the Barents Sea) in the inner White Sea. Earlier, this species was recorded only in the Voronka, the most distant part of the White Sea,which is substantially closer to the Barents Sea than the White Sea by its oceanographic features. The size of the female crab and its reproductive phase corresponded in general to those observed in the Barents Sea population in summer, but the quantityof developing eggs on pleopods was two order of magnitude lower than in the females of similar size in the Barents Sea. We discuss the ecological characteristics of red king crab, the possibility of its habitation in the inner White Sea, and explanations for finding of the crab specimen near Cape Kartesh. The more likely scenario is introduction by man. In the case of both human-mediated introduction and natural migration from the Voronka of the White Sea, the prospect for naturalization of P. camtschaticus in the inner White Sea is doubtful. This naturalization will be limited by low salinity in the coastal areas where crab reproduction takes place and below zero temperature of the entire water column, not allowing the finding of wintering habitats suitable for adult crab males and females.