EXPLORATION FOR GOLDEN CRAB, GERYON FENNERI, IN 



THE SOUTH ATLANTIC BIGHT: DISTRIBUTION, POPULATION 



STRUCTURE, AND GEAR ASSESSMENT^ 



Elizabeth L Wenner.^ Glenn F. Ulrich,' and 

 John B. Wise- 



ABSTRACT 



Exploratory trtipping for golden crab, Geryon fenneri. was conducted from 5 August 1985 to 21 

 February 1986 ofT South Carolina and Georgia. A buoyed system with strings of six traps (three 

 side-entry Fathoms Plus and three top-entry Florida traps) was fished in six depth strata: 274-366 m, 

 367-457 m, 458-549 m, 550-640 m, 641-732 m, and 733-823 m. A total of 3,152 G. fenneri (2,661.9 kg) 

 were collected at sampled depths between 296 and 810 m. The only other numerically important 

 species caught was the jonah crab. Cancer borealis (864 individuals, 227.5 kg). 



Catches of golden crab were highly variable between strata. Catch per trap increased from 1.6 

 crabs (1.67 kg) in the shallowest stratum sampled to a maximum abundance of 22.3 crabs/trap (18.04 

 kg/trap) in the 458-549 m depth zone. Catches abruptly declined in the deeper strata sampled. 



Number of golden crab per trap (1.7:1) and weight per trap (1.6:1) in the Florida trap exceeded 

 that in the Fathoms Plus trap for all completed sets. Traps yielded golden crab as small as 85 mm CW 

 but the greatest proportion of crabs was >100 mm CW. Over 90^^ of all individuals exceeded 114 mm 

 CW which is the minimum size of red crab, G. quinquedens , accepted for commercial utilization. Male 

 golden crab were more numerous and larger than females. 



Crabs of the genus Geryon (Brachyura: Gery- 

 onidae) are deepwater inhabitants of the At- 

 lantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans (Rathbun 1937; 

 Monod 1956; Christiansen 1969; Manning and 

 Holthuis 1981). Species reported off the United 

 States in the western Ath^ntic and Gulf of Mexico 

 include the red crab, G. quinquedens Smith, and 

 the golden crab, G. fenneri Manning and 

 Holthuis. At the time G. fenneri was described 

 (Manning and Holthuis 1984), its geographic and 

 bathymetric distribution included the continen- 

 tal slope off eastern Florida, the Florida Straits, 

 and the Gulf of Mexico. An exploratory fishing 

 effort in 1984 collected the first known specimens 

 of golden crab off South Carolina'*, and it is now 

 known that golden crab occur in waters off 

 Bermuda (Luckhurst in press). 



Both G. quinquedens and G. fenneri have been 



'Contribution No. 232, South Carolina Marine Resources 

 Center, Marine Resources Research Institute. 



'■^Marine Resources Research Institute, South Carolina 

 Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, P.O. Box 12559, 

 Charleston, SC 29412. 



•^Office of Fisheries Management. South Carolina Wildlife 

 and Marine Resources Department, P.O. Box 12559, 

 Charleston, SC 29412. 



''South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, 

 unpubl. data, courtesy Charles Wenner, Marine Resources Re- 

 search Institute, Charleston, SC. 



the target of limited and sporadic commercial 

 fishing efforts off the east coast of the United 

 States (Gerrior 1981), in the Gulf of Mexico. 

 (Otwell et al. 1984; National Marine Fisheries 

 Service 1986''), and off Bermuda (Luckhurst in 

 press). Although much information is available 

 concerning the biology and commercial fishery of 

 red crab (summarized by Gerrior 1981), biological 

 information on golden crab is more limited. 

 Otwell et al. (1984) demonstrated exploratory 

 trapping and processing techniques for golden 

 crab from the Gulf of Mexico. 



The initiation of a small commercial crabbing 

 enterprise during 1984 in South Carolina yielded 

 promising quantities of golden crab*'. We began 

 the present study to determine the fishery poten- 

 tial, compare trap designs, delineate bathymetric 

 distribution, and describe the biology of golden 

 crab in the South Atlantic Bight. This report doc- 

 uments results on catch rates, size and sex compo- 



■''National Marine Fisheries Service. 1986. Species profile: 

 deep red crab, Geryon quinquedens, Smith and golden crab, 

 Geryon fenneri, Manning and Holthius, 1984 from the south- 

 eastern U.S. south of Cape Hatteras, N.C. U.S. Dep. Commer. 

 Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, Pascagoula Lab., Latent Resour. 

 Rep., 17 p. 



6H. Holley, commercial fisherman, Charleston, SC, pers. com- 

 mun. 1985.' 



Manuscript accepted March 1987. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 85. NO 3, 1987. 



547 



