Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

and, therefore, had a caloric value one half that used under the first
assumption; thirdly, that floc derived totally from the prey items already
identified and could be ignored in the calculations. Under the first two
assumptions, the corrected dietary composition calculated with floc
included (Table 16) was used. Under the third assumption the corrected
dietary composition calculated without floc (Table 17) was used. Under
the three assumptions, the June daily ration equaled 29.6, 15.9, and 17.5
calories per g crab wet weight per day, respectively (Tables 20, 21, and
22). Similarily, the August daily ration equaled 58.1, 30.4, and 42.2
calories per g crab wet weight per day (Tables 23,24, and 25).
The energetic contribution of each prey item to the total caloric
intake appears in the last column in Tables 20-25. Even after halving the
caloric value of the floc, between 87 and 91% of the total caloric intake
of juvenile king crabs still resides in floc. If one considers floc to
derive from the identified prey, then polychaetes and sand dollars
constitute 52% and 36%, respectively, of the total caloric intake in June
(Table 22) whereas polychaetes and the clam, Tellina sp, constitute 64%
and 24% of the caloric intake in August.
IMMUNOASSAY
Antisera from 29 species of potential prey items collected during the
August and October cruises were produced. After an initial visual
examination of juvenile king crab stomach contents, an additional 8
antisera were produced from prey items collected from Sequim Bay and from
a subsequent NOAA/OCSEAP cruise during May of 1983. In the table of self
and cross reactions (Table 26) numbers of self reaction lines ranged from
4 lines for several species of polychaetes and nematodes to 11 lines for
the king crab. Cross reactions were also evident as expected,
particularly among species closely related phylogenetically.
Before analysis of the smallest juvenile king crab, the immunoassay
method and microscopic examination were compared in examining gut contents
from larger juvenile king crab (CL >50 mm). Twenty stomachs of larger
juvenile king crab collected in June 1982 were examined and a species list
and frequency of occurrence table developed (Table 27). Extracts of the
stomach contents without solid material were saved for the immunoassay.
Immunological tests were then conducted on the stomach contents of the
same 20 crabs examined visually.
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