Anderson, Lyle 
Filed; Alaska King Crab Inquiries 
25 
IJay 10, 1944 
Mr. Lyle Anderson 
Pis hery Pr oducts Labor ator y 
Box 647 
Ketchikan, Alaska 
Dear Lyle; 
I alimys enjoy getting letters front the west coast, even if they 
are strictly business. Tour letter of April 11 reminds :ae of the very 
pleasant tines I had in Ketchikan both before and after the Crab Imres ti- 
•ati on . 
W 
Tanner crab is perhaps an unfortunate appellation, because Chion- 
oecetes tanner! is but one of two co toon representatives of the genus." "'fixe' 
one that i think was most common ’.sis chionoeoetes bairdi. This species 
ranges from the southeastern part of the Bering ' Tea” sST” the Aleutians east- 
ward and southward to British Columbia, from shallow water to 259 fathoms; 
while tanner! ranges from off washing ton to Lower California, from, 29 to 1062 
fathoms, ' seldom less than 250 fathoms. There is still another species, C. 
angulatus , which is confined to the Bering Sea, ranging from Kamchatka east- 
ward to the Pribilofs and southward to the Aleutians, as far east as Long* 
167 25’ and again from British Columbia to Oregon, 49 to 1625 fathoms. 
'.Then all is said and done, a picture of bairdi seems to be the 
one that you should use, and I would urge you to label it "Spider crab, 
sometimes called tanner crab.*' I would like to get back to the name "spider 
crab'* for Chionoeoetes , which is a true spider crab, while the king crab is 
a lithodid crab’.' ' ' 
With this are photographs of the species of Chionoeoetes that was 
named for Tanner and the one that was named for Baird. ' 'Sio" last of those 
is the one that I think you should use. The pictures are those that were 
published in Miss Eathbun’s U.3.IJ.M. Bull. 129, "The Spider Crabs of 
America," 1925. You are welcome to them, 'to have other copies and the 
original negatives here. 
with kind regards. 
Sincerely, 
Waldo L» Schmitt, 
Head Curator, 
”LS:LMc Department of Biology* 
