FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 84. NO. 1 



borate (10 g/L solution). The wet weight of preserved 

 ovaries was recorded to the nearest g and diameters 

 of a sample of oocytes/ova were recorded to the near- 

 est 0.1 mm using a stereomicroscope. 



Because many of the ovaries appeared abnormal 

 and could not be classified easily by oogenetic stage, 

 histological examination was undertaken of ovaries 

 and pleopods from the largest sample, collected in 

 January 1981 (Table 1). To provide material for a 

 more detailed examination, the Olga Bay population 

 was sampled again in April 1982, and three ap- 

 parently normal Bering Sea populations of blue king 

 crabs were also sampled (Table 1). Except as in- 

 dicated, tissues taken in these collections included 

 portions of the central nervous system, gut, hepato- 

 pancreas, gills, eyestalks, epidermis, heart, anten- 

 nal gland, bladder, ovary, female pleopods, anterior 

 vas deferens, and, in some cases, testis and hemo- 

 poietic tissue 



Except for the January samples from Olga Bay 

 (fixed in borate Formalin), all tissues were fixed in 

 Kelly's solution (containing zinc chloride rather than 



mercuric chloride) for 3-4 d, washed 1-2 h in 50% 

 ethyl alcohol, and stored in 70% ethyl alcohol until 

 being processed by standard histological methods. 

 To provide a basis for comparison, ovaries and pleo- 

 pods of 1 1 female red king crabs collected at Olga 

 Bay, January 1981, and fixed in borate Formalin, and 

 tissues from two blue king crabs collected at Glacier 

 Bay, AK, infected with the rhizocephalan Brian- 

 saccus callosus, and fixed in Helly's solution, were 

 also prepared for histological examination. 



RESULTS 



Prevalence of the Rhizocephalan 



The roots (internas) of a rhizocephalan were asso- 

 ciated with either or both the ovary and the pleopod 

 in 52% of the 104 blue king crab females taken from 

 Olga Bay in January 1981, and with various tissues 

 in 40% of the 15 females and 33% of the 15 males 

 taken from Olga Bay in April 1982 (Table 2). The 

 rhizocephalan was also found in 1 of the 11 red king 



Table 1.— Origins of blue king crabs examined histologically. 



Table 2.— Rhizocephalans in individual male and female blue king crabs, Olga Bay, Kodiak Island, 



AK, April 1982. 



'± = light infection; + to + + + 

 2 + = parasite present. 

 3 + = present 



medium to very heavy infection. 



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