246 
Fishery Bulletin 111(3) 
Table 4 
Ionic composition of hemolymph from snow and southern Tanner crabs under different experimental conditions. Ionic con- 
centration values are means (±1 standard error [SE]). n=no. crabs sampled. 
Ion concentration (mmol Lr 1 ) 
Species 
Experimental conditions 
Na + 
n 
K + 
n 
Ca 2+ 
n 
Mg 2+ 
n 
ci- 
n 
Seawater from Bering Sea 
449 
- 
9.5 
— 
9.8 
— 
51.1 
— 
523 
— 
Seawater from Sea of Okhtosk 
453 
~ 
9.6 
~ 
10.5 
~ 
51.6 
- 
528 
- 
C. opilio 
Repeated pot hauls at long time 
intervals (>3 days) 7 
Immediately after capture 
465 (13) 
4 
12.6 (0.4) 
7 
8.3 (0.3) 
16 
36.0 (0.6) 
10 
482 (4) 
10 
After 3rd lift 
443 (28) 
3 
9.2 (0.7)** 
6 
8.0 (0.4) 
8 
34.0 (1.5) 
8 
469 (17) 
8 
Long-term starvation in the 
crab pot (55 days) 2 
Immediately after capture 
399 (15) 
7 
10.8 (0.5) 
7 
8.2 (0.4) 
7 
35.7 (1.5) 
7 
482.8 (19) 
7 
After starvation 
374(33) 
5 
8.7 (0.9)* 
5 
7.2 (0.6) 
5 
32.6 (3.8) 
5 
463 (48) 
5 
C. bairdi 
Repeated pot hauls at long time 
intervals (>3 days) 7 
Immediately after capture 
472 (5) 
4 
13.0 (0.8) 
7 
7.7 (0.3) 
18 
33.8 (0.7) 
10 
477 (5) 
10 
After 3rd lift 
388 (78) 
3 
8.2 (2.1)* 
6 
7.5 (0.5) 
7 
30.8 (2.2) 
7 
444 (28) 
7 
Long-term starvation in the 
crab pot (25 days) 3 
Immediately after capture 
406 (25) 
3 
11.3 (0.6) 
4 
8.2 (0.3) 
5 
27.0 (1.1) 
5 
413 (38) 
5 
After starvation 
386 (28) 
3 
8.9 (0.1) 
3 
8.3 (0.4) 
9 
29.4 (0.8) 
9 
400 (25) 
9 
Long-term starvation in the 
crab pot (55 days) 2 
Immediately after capture 
367 (19) 
6 
10.0 (0.8) 
6 
7.7 (0.4) 
6 
31.1 (2.2) 
6 
458 (28) 
6 
After starvation 
370 (23) 
5 
9.5 (1.1) 
5 
7.7 (0.3) 
5 
32.4 (2.7) 
5 
447 (34) 
5 
1 18 May-12 June 2006, Bering Sea (area I). 
2 19 September-12 November 2008, Sea of Okhtosk (area I). 
3 7 July-2 August 2008, Bering Sea (area I). 
* Significantly different from that of individuals sampled immediately after capture (P<0.05), Student’s f-test. 
** Significantly different from that of individuals sampled immediately after capture (P<0.01), Student’s t-test. 
by 65% of the initial value occurred within 4 days. Ani- 
mals in water with 12% and 15% 02-saturation first 
increased their [He] for 15 and 36 days, respectively. 
After those time periods, a rapid decrease in [He] oc- 
curred at a rate similar to the one recorded for lobster 
in water with 10% 02-saturation. Mortality of animals 
during hypoxic experiments ranged from 40% to 100%. 
Glycogen depletion in muscles and in the hepatopan- 
creas of lobster also was seen after O2 deficiency, re- 
flecting a shift to anaerobic metabolism (Baden et al., 
1994). However, loss of functional hemocyanin in the 
hemolymph of lobsters during these hypoxic experi- 
ments (as indicated by a reduction in oxyhemocyanin 
concentration measured with a spectrophotometer) did 
not correlate with loss of blood copper. Baden et al. 
(1994) suggested that, under conditions of hypoxic ex- 
periments, the functional integrity of He molecules is 
damaged, leading to changes of the 02-binding proper- 
ties of He. Their assumption seems reasonable because 
severe metabolic acidosis induces an increase in pro- 
tein degradation because of activation of proteolysis 
and nonenzymatic hydrolysis of proteins. 
In our experiments, respiratory acidosis, internal 
hypoxia, and anaerobic metabolism in crabs may have 
been caused by impaired gas exchange in damaged gills 
or exposure to air during handling on the deck. Howev- 
er, in our experiments, declines in [He] were not related 
to decreases in animal vitality. The highest decrease in 
[He] for snow and southern Tanner crabs was observed 
in the experiments with repeated pot hauls at long time 
intervals (>3 days), during which the vitality of animals 
was high. In animals considerably weakened during re- 
peated pot hauls at short time intervals (<3 days) or 
during prolonged air exposure, [He] was reduced to a 
lesser extent or not changed (Figs. 3, 4, and 5). 
The rapid decline in [He] observed in our experi- 
ments was, therefore, unlikely to have been due to deg- 
radation of the protein as a result of respiratory hypoxia 
and severe metabolic acidosis. Additionally, SDS/PAGE 
showed no changes in the subunit composition of He’s 
from snow crab and southern Tanner crab in our exper- 
iments. In individuals of both species of crabs, differ- 
ent proportions of the He subunits were sometimes ob- 
served, but these differences were not correlated with 
