242 
Fishery Bulletin 111(3) 
Figure 7 
Photographic image showing air-gas bubbles (T) found in the median shaft of the gill of a 
southern Tanner crab ( Chionoecetes bairdi) during gross examination of dissected crabs 
as part of our study of the effects of pot fishing on the physical condition of Chionoecetes 
crabs in the Bering Sea and Russian waters of the Sea of Okhotsk. 
of the degree of damage in gills on the number of lifts 
(Table 2). 
Copper content in the hepatopancreas 
A significant difference in hepatopancreas copper lev- 
els between control and experimental individuals (Stu- 
dent’s Gtest, P<0.05) was observed in experiment 9, 
where long-term starvation of southern Tanner crab in 
a crab pot was investigated (Table 3). There were no 
significant differences in hepatopancreas copper levels 
between control and experimental snow crab and south- 
ern Tanner crab in experiments 6 and 7, which involved 
frequent lifts of crab pots. 
Ionic composition of hemolymph 
The ionic composition of hemolymph from snow and 
southern Tanner crabs under different experimental 
conditions was investigated (Table 4). In experiment 1, 
a significant decrease in [K + ] was observed in hemo- 
lymph from snow crab (Student’s Gtest, P<0.01) and 
southern Tanner crab (Student’s Gtest, P<0.05) after 3 
pot hauls. In experiment 9, a significant decline in [K + ] 
was observed in hemolymph from snow crab after star- 
vation in a pot for 55 days (Student’s f-test, P<0.05). 
Subunit composition of hemocyanins 
In the Hcs from snow crab and southern Tanner crab, 4 
and 3 differently migrating polypeptide chains, respec- 
tively, were found in the SDS/PAGE experiment. In our 
investigations, the patterns of bands obtained by SDS/ 
PAGE in both crab species did not change under differ- 
ent experimental conditions (data not shown). 
Discussion 
Effects of pot fishing on crab vitality 
In most studies on the effects of pot fishing on crabs, 
the main focus was mortality of animals. Experiments 
in other studies that involved repeated pot hauls 
showed that mortality of deepwater beni-zuwai crab 
( Chionoecetes japonicus ) and triangle Tanner crab 
( Chionoecetes angulatus) depended on molt stage, and 
mortality of new-shell crabs was greater than mortality 
of old-shell animals (Koblikov, 2004; Vasilyev and Kli- 
