This species was first recorded in the Russian waters of the Barents Sea in 1996 . Unlike the Kamchatka crab, which was intentionally introduced into the Barents Sea in order to form a new commercial stock, the introduction of the opilio strigun crab occurred naturally, or as a result of unintentional introduction. To date, the opilio strigun crab has settled on most of the shelf of the central and eastern parts of the Barents Sea, and has also penetrated into the Kara Sea. At the same time, the basis of the Barents Sea population of the opilio strigun crab is located within the boundaries of the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation.
During the expedition work in 2022, VNIRO employees collected up-to-date scientific data on the distribution, size composition and condition of the stock of the opilio strigun crab in the area of its fishing in the Barents Sea, collected extensive material on the dynamics of the temperature of the bottom layer of water in the research area. In addition, in the spring-summer period, many years of work on the labeling of the opilio shearer crab in the Barents Sea were continued. It is expected that these data will reveal the features of seasonal and ontogenetic migrations of crabs, which are one of the key factors in the formation of the spatial structure of the population of this species.
The obtained materials will complement a long-term series of observations on the opilio strigun crab fishery in the Barents Sea and will be involved in the development of a forecast of the state of the stock of this valuable species of aquatic biological resources for 2023-2024 and subsequent years.
VNIRO Press Service
