ECOLOGICAL DATA
Distribution: throughout coastal waters, but main
fisheries are along south coast.
Habitat: sandy, gravel and rocky bottoms in areas with rapid tidal current
flows; planktonic larvae utilize 18-54 m depths but prefer bottom layer as they develop;
remain in shallow water bays and inlets during first year due to abundant food supply; may
be common around docks.
Tidal elevation: intertidal to 185 m subtidal depth.
Food: carnivore; mysids, amphipods and polychaete worms.
Predators: ling cod.
GROWTH RATE
Shrimp are potandrous hermaphrodites: spend the early part of
their lives as males and the remainder as females; following 5 larval stages,
metamorphosis is complete by June and males are 60-70 mm by October; reach 85 mm by second
autumn; most become females in the spring of the 2nd yr, and reach 100 mm in fall; life
span is about 3 yr and maximum size is 123 mm for males and 140 mm for females.
|
FISHERY Commercial and sport fisheries; commercial
fishery in Burrard Inlet until 1960; winter trap fishery in Sooke Harbour yields 5-50 t
per season; sport fishery off docks, e.g. near Sidney; 1986 total shrimp commercial
catch was 768 t valued at $1.2 million.
REFERENCES
Boutillier, J.A. 1986. Shrimp, p. 58-64. In G.S.
Jamieson and K. Francis [ed.] Invertebrate and marine plant fishery resources of British
Columbia. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 91.
Butler, T.H. 1964. Growth, reproduction, and distribution of pandalid shrimps in
British Columbia. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 21: 1403-1452.
Butler, T.H. 1980. Shrimps of the Pacific coast of Canada. Can. Bull. Fish. Aquat.
Sci. 202: 147-149.
Butler, T.H., and J. Boutillier. 1983. Selected shrimps of British Columbia.
Underwater World, Fish. Oceans Can., Ottawa: 6 p.
Scrivener, J.C., and J.H. Butler. 1971. A bibliography of shrimps of the Family
Pandalidae, emphasizing economically important species of the genus Pandalus. Fish.
Res. Board Can. Tech. Rep. 241: 42 p.
|