343 
NOAA 
National Marine 
Fisheries Service 
Fishery Bulletin 
established 1881 -<?. 
Spencer F. Baird 
First U.S. Commissioner 
of Fisheries and founder 
of Fishery Bulletin 
Depth and temperatyre distribution, 
morphometries, and sex ratios of red deepsea 
crab iChaceon quinquedens^ at 4 sampling sites 
in the Mid-Atlantic Bight 
Email address for contact author: bgstevens@umes.edu 
Abstract— The red deepsea crab 
{Chaceon quinquedens) supports a 
small fishery of <2000 metric tons 
annually along the U.S. East Coast, 
but little is known about the life 
history of this crab. We sampled 
red deepsea crab from 4 sites and 3 
depth strata (250-450 m, 450-700 
m, and 700-850 m) in the Mid-At- 
lantic Bight in January 2011 and 
2012 and in July 2013. Crab size 
decreased with depth, whereas shell 
age indices increased with depth. 
Crab occurred at temperatures from 
4.6°C to 10.6°C (mean: 6.37°C) and 
there was little difference between 
sexes. Size at 50% maturity (SM50) 
could not be determined with chela 
or abdomen allometry, but SM50 
was estimated at 61.6 mm in cara- 
pace length for females on the ba- 
sis of gonopore condition. Sex ratios 
(M:F) involving female crab above 
the SM50 were <0.5, indicating that 
large males are depleted in com- 
parison with female abundance. The 
proportion of ovigerous females was 
33% in January 2012 and <6% in 
July 2013, proportions that support 
the hypothesis of a biennial (or lon- 
ger) reproductive cycle. Red deepsea 
crab probably recruit to deep water 
(>1000 m), move upslope during ado- 
lescence, and become mature in the 
shallowest strata, before undergoing 
an ontogenetic migration back to in- 
termediate depths. 
Manuscript submitted 29 May 2015. 
Manuscript accepted 2 May 2016. 
Fish. Bull. 114:343-359 (2016). 
Online publication date: 2 June 2016. 
doi: 10.7755/FB.114.3.7 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Bradley G. Stevens (contact author)^ 
Vincent Guida^ 
' Department of Natural Sciences 
University of Maryland Eastern Shore 
Carver Hall 
Princess Anne, Maryland 21853 
2 Northeast Fisheries Science Center 
National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 
James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory 
74 Magruder Road, Sandy Hook 
Highlands, New Jersey 07732 
The red deepsea crab {Chaceon 
quinquedens) ranges from the Gulf 
of Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, at 
depths from 200 to 1800 m, and 
temperatures of 5-8°C (Haefner and 
Musick, 1974; Wigley et ah, 1975; 
Serchuk^; Steimle et ah, 2001; Wahle 
et ah, 2008; NEFSC^). Stocks along 
the Atlantic coast are considered a 
single population and distinct from 
the stock in the Gulf of Mexico. Red 
deepsea crab support a small but 
valuable fishery in federally man- 
aged waters along the continental 
slope of southern New England and 
the Mid-Atlantic, a fishery that has 
^ Serchuk, F. M. 1977. Assessment of 
red crab (Geryon quinquedens) popula- 
tions in the northwest Atlantic. Natl. 
Mar. Fish. Serv., Northeast Fish. Sci. 
Cent. Lab. Ref. 15 p. [Available 
at website.] 
2 NEFSC (Northeast Fisheries Science 
Center). 2009. The Northeast Data 
Poor Stocks Working Group report, De- 
cember 8-12, 2008 meeting. Part A. 
Skate species complex, deep sea red 
crab, Atlantic wolffish, scup, and black 
sea bass. NOAA, Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., 
Northeast Fish. Sci. Cent. Ref Doc. 09- 
02, 496 p. [Available at website.] 
been managed since 2002 by the New 
England Fishery Management Coun- 
cil (Wigley et ah, 1975; Wahle et ah, 
2008). In recent years, 4 vessels have 
fished for red deepsea crab and have 
averaged annual landings of 1360 
metric tons (t) over the time period 
2002-2013, but landings have de- 
clined from 1600 to 930 t during that 
period (Chute^). Red deepsea crab 
are a data-poor fishery stock. Very 
little is known about their biology, 
abundance, growth, age, or reproduc- 
tion, and, as a result, management 
consists primarily of controls on total 
allowable catch, currently set at 2688 
t. Because of inadequate information 
on biomass, the New England Fish- 
ery Management Council Scientific 
and Statistical Committee has not 
set a fishing-induced mortality rate 
or determined whether the stock is 
in a status of overfished or overfish- 
ing (Chute et ah'*). 
® Chute, A. 2014. Personal commun. 
Northeast Fish. Sci. Cent., Natl. Mar. 
Fish. Serv., NOAA, Woods Hole, MA 
02543. 
^ Chute, A., L. Jacobson, P. Rago, and A. 
