SURVEY OF THE BENTHIC INVERTEBRATE FAUNA 

 OF THE EASTERN BERING SEA 



by 



Patsy A. McLaughlin 



Fishery Research Biologist 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



U. S, Fish and Wildlife Service 



Seattle, Washington 



ABSTRACT 



The report presents a checklist of species of pelecypods, gastropods (exclusive 

 of nudibranchs), barnacles, decapod crustaceans, tunicates, and the nnajority of 

 echinoderms found on the Continental Shelf of the eastern Bering Sea during king 

 crab studies of 1958 and 1959. In addition specific identifications are given for some 

 of the bryozoans and hydroids, and a few of the annelids. Other organisms connpris- 

 ing otter trawl and dredge catches of the stations in the area are listed according 

 to class or order. 



INTRODUCTION 



A phase of the research program conducted 

 by the King Crab Investigation of the Bureau 

 of Commercial Fisheries for the International 

 North Pacific Fisheries Commission has in- 

 cluded an ecological study of the easten. 

 Bering Sea. During the summers of 1958 and 

 1959, sannples of invertebrate bottonn fauna 

 were collected by king crab biologists aboard 

 the chartered vessel M. V. Tordenskjold. The 

 principal purpose of these collections was to aid 

 in making specific identifications of food organ- 

 isms of the king crab (Paralithodes camtschatica), 

 a comnnercially innportant anomuran. In addi- 

 tion, relationship of king crabs to other fauna 

 of the area may be established through these 

 surveys. 



Invertebrate fauna of the eastern Bering Sea 

 has been studied little since the Harriman 

 Alaska Expedition and Albatross expedition in 

 the late 1890's and early 1900's. Limited 

 information can be obtained from the report 

 of the pre-World War II king crab investiga- 

 tions (Fishery Market News, 1942) and from 

 the report of the Pacific Explorer's fishing and 

 processing operations in 1948 (Wigutoff and 



Note.- -Presently employed as Assistant Zoologist, Department of 

 Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. 



Carlson, 1950). Some information on species 

 found in the area is included in reports of the 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Alaska ex- 

 ploratory fishing expedition in 1948 (Ellson, 

 Knake, and Dassow, 1949) and the exploratory 

 fishing expedition to the northern Bering Sea 

 in 1949 (Ellson, Powell, and Hildebrand, 1950). 

 Neuman (I960) has published a quantitative 

 report, in Russian, on the molluscan com- 

 munities of the eastern Bering Sea; however, 

 reference is not made to his work since a 

 translation is not available. 



This report is restricted to a checklist of 

 pelecypods, gastropods (exclusive of nudi- 

 branchs as identifications are not yet conn- 

 pleted), barnacles, decapod crustaceans, tuni- 

 cates, and the majority of echinoderms, col- 

 lected in the eastern Bering Sea. 



Several groups, such as annelids, forams, 

 sponge, and the majority of coelenterates and 

 bryozoans have not yet been identified due to 

 the lack of available systematists or reference 

 literature. 



No attempt was made to conduct quantita- 

 tive sampling of the invertebrate fauna since 

 the needs of other king crab studies did not 

 allow extensive sampling. 



