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Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

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tions are not available for them.<br />

During a survey of the epibenthos of<br />

the Bering Sea in 1975 <strong>and</strong> 1976, Feder <strong>and</strong> Jewett (1980) encountered<br />

Erimacrus in 25.6% of trawls made in water between 40 <strong>and</strong> 100 m deep <strong>and</strong><br />

31.7% of trawls made in water between 100 <strong>and</strong> 200 m. Greatest biomass<br />

of Erimacrus occurred between 40-100 m depth <strong>and</strong> was 1.5% (9.073 g wet<br />

weight/m 2 ) of total epifaunal biomass in the Middle Shelf domain (Jewett<br />

<strong>and</strong> Feder 1981).<br />

Literature on Erimacrus isenbeckii is scarce, but Yoshida (1941)<br />

gives the following account of its reproduction.<br />

Copulation takes place<br />

immediately after the female's first molt to maturity while the carapace<br />

is still soft.<br />

Eggs are extruded <strong>and</strong> carried on pleopods under the<br />

abdominal flap until zoeae hatch in early spring.<br />

Reproduction is<br />

inextricably linked to molting in most crabs on an annual basis <strong>and</strong><br />

likely accounts for large differences in body size between larger<br />

sexually mature males <strong>and</strong> smaller females.<br />

Erimacrus females may molt<br />

only every other year which slows growth as does the need to put large<br />

quantities of energy into egg production (Yoshida 1941).<br />

Telmessus cheiragonus, closely related to Erimacrus but smaller in<br />

size (approximately 60 mm in length), occurs in shallow more northerly<br />

shelf areas <strong>and</strong> near river estuaries (Makarov 1966; Table 5.1).<br />

It is<br />

distributed as far north as the Chukchi Sea.<br />

No literature on the<br />

reproduction of this species in the southeastern Bering Sea is currently<br />

available, but ovigerous females have been found in the Bering Sea from<br />

June through September (Feder <strong>and</strong> Jewett 1980; Lowry et al. 1981).<br />

Telmessus cheiragonus is exceedingly abundant in shallow coastal lagoons<br />

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