WENNER ET AL.: EXPLORATION FOR GOLDEN CRAB 



tween the rostral teeth to the posterior edge of the 

 carapace, along the midline), and most were 

 weighed to the nearest gram. The number of 

 missing chelae and pereopods was recorded for 

 each crab, as was molt condition and presence of 

 chitinolysis and poecilasmatid barnacles, Trilas- 

 mis inaequilaterale , on the exoskeleton. Molt con- 

 dition of G. fenneri was modified from criteria 

 established by Beyers and Wilke (1980) for 

 G. quinqiiedens (probably G. maritae Manning 

 and Holthius) and consisted of five categories: 



1) Hard - carapace at maximum strength, fouling 

 by barnacles or chitinolytic bacteria mini- 

 mal, 



2) Hard old - carapace strong but heavily fouled 

 by barnacles and abraded or blackened by 

 chitinolytic bacteria, 



3) Soft old - resorptive line along posterolateral 

 sides of the carapace is weak; carapace heavily 

 fouled as with hard-old condition, 



4) Soft new - carapace soft or jellylike with no 

 fouling, and 



5) Hard new - carapace cracks under pressure 

 and is not fouled. 



Female G. fenneri were examined for evidence 

 of egg extrusion and mating. Presence of eggs or 

 egg remnants on pleopods and the size, shape, and 

 physical condition of vulvae, as described by 

 Haefner (1977), were noted. We examined semi- 

 nal receptacles for presence of sperm or sperma- 

 tophores and for relative size. 



Ovaries from 72 of the 166 female G. fenneri 

 captured were initially classified by relative size 

 and color following the scheme described by 

 Haefner (1977) for G. quinquedens. After gross 

 classification of ovaries, tissues were removed for 

 histological preparation and examination in 

 order to describe ovarian structure and validate 

 assigned ovarian stages. Tissues were fixed for at 

 least 48 hours in 10% seawater formalin. After 

 fixation, tissues were dehydrated, cleared, and 

 embedded in paraffin. Sections were cut at 6-9 (xm 

 and were stained with Gill's hematoxylin and 

 counterstained with eosin-Y. Oocytes from G. 

 fenneri were measured using an ocular microm- 

 eter. 



Testes and vas deferentia from three G. fenneri 

 were fixed for 24 hours in 2.57^ glutaraldehyde, 

 rinsed in cacodylate buffer, and dehydrated in 

 ethanol. Tissues were then critical-point dried, 

 sputter coated, and examined using a Jeol JSM- 

 35C scanning electron microscope (SEM). 



RESULTS 

 Distribution and Relative Abundance 



The 70 valid sets (416 individual trap observa- 

 tions) caught 3,152 G. fenneri (2,661.9 kg) at sam- 

 pled depths between 296 and 810 m. The only 

 other numerically important species caught was 

 the Jonah crab, Cancer borealis (864 individuals, 

 227.5 kg). 



Catch per trap increased from 1.6 crabs (1.67 

 kg) in the shallowest stratum to a maximum 

 abundance of 22.3 crabs/trap (18.04 kg'trap) in 

 the 458-549 m depth zone (Fig. 1). Catches then 

 abruptly declined with increasing depth. The ab- 

 sence of golden crabs in traps fished between 550 

 and 640 m appears to be related to unsuitable 



Geryon fenneri 



Tt CO 



com N-l^ COCO CVJCSi rr 



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14.0- 



0. 



< 



DC 10.0- 



I- 



~^ 

 DC 

 UJ 



m 



2 6.0- 



D 

 Z 



2.0- 



i 



NS 



— r: 



21 



1 



I 



I 







NS 



a. 

 < 



DC 



1- 

 ~^ 



O 



10.0- 



6.0- 



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- 





'/A 



I I Fathoms Plus 

 ^ Florida Traps 







274- 

 366 



367- 458- 550- 641- 733- 

 457 549 640 732 823 



DEPTH (m) 



Figure 1. — Catch per trap of Geryon fenneri for six depth strata 

 sampled. Effort (number of traps) is shown in parentheses. 

 Statistical significance of catches between trap types, as deter- 

 mined by two sample /-test, is indicated by * (P <0.05). NS 

 indicates no significant difference in catch rates between the 

 two trap types. 



549 



