The impact of the hydrodynamic conditions in aquatic areas on the red king crab fouling communities of the Barents Sea

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the species composition and indices of associated organisms for the red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus has been carried out at two aquatic areas of the Barents Sea that differ based on the intensity of their water exchange with the open sea areas. In Dolgaya Bay, a typical fjord of the Barents Sea with low water circulation, such common fouling organisms as the barnacles Balanus crenatus dominated on the crabs, while, in Dalnezelenetskaya Bay, a semiopen coastal area, the most common mobile symbionts on the red king crab were the amphipods Ischyrocerus commensalis and I. anguipes. In Dolgaya Bay, the hydrodynamic conditions promote the settlement of larval foulers, whose colonization leads to a decrease of the crab infestation with the mobile symbionts and changes in their distribution along the host body if compared to the more open coastal areas of Eastern Murman.