114 
John Dodrill et al. 
(6.8-13.6 kg) grouper caught at depths of 194-236 m in June and 
July. They were represented by nongravid adults and were concur- 
rent to the extent that one 900-mm grouper (TL) had eaten two C. 
irroratus (89 and 90 mm CW) and one C. borealis (83 mm CW) 
(total volume 197 mL). 
Both species are common year-round in the decapod 
assemblage of the upper continental slope from the Chesapeake 
Bight south. C. irroratus and C. borealis ranked first and second 
among crabs trawled during fall and winter between Cape Hatteras 
and Cape Henlopen, Delaware (Musick and McEachraji 1972). Wen- 
ner and Read (1982) ranked C. irroratus 15th, and C. borealis 18th 
numerically in 496 trawl stations in the South Atlantic Bight. At 
seven trawl stations between Charleston and Cape Lookout in 203- 
293 m, either C. irroratus, C. borealis, or both, were taken in six 
of seven tows (North Carolina Division of Marine fisheries, Cruise 
Reports, R/V Dan Moore cruise number 36, 26-28 September 1979). 
Cerame-Vivas and Gray (1966) reported rock crabs commonly oc- 
curring on the upper slope off North Carolina. 
Cancer irroratus and C. borealis are found on several 
substrates. Jeffries (1966) reported separation by substrate in shal- 
low waters off New England where C. borealis tended to associate 
with rocky habitat and C. irroratus with sand. Soto (1985) reported 
both species from mud bottom in the Florida Straits. Musick and 
McEachran (1972) noted both species trawled over sand, silt, clay, 
and coarse canyon sediments, though C. borealis seemed to be more 
stenothermal with a preference for rougher bottom. 
Parthenopidae — Parthenope pourtelesii was represented by two 
intact females (22 and 36 mm CW) and one specimen of undeter- 
mined sex. They were taken from grouper caught on two trips (June, 
September) at 146 mm in the primary study area. This crab has 
been recorded over sand and sandy-mud bottoms (Powers 1977, 
Williams 1984). 
Solenoceridae — Solenocera atlantidis (tentative identification) 
occurred in snowy grouper caught from May to September in the 
primary study area in 145-163 m. Seven of these shrimp were col- 
lected. Two species, Solenocera atlantidis and Mesopenaeus tropicalis 
Perez Farfante, numerically were among the top three decapod spe- 
cies trawled at depths of 56-183 m in the South Atlantic Bight 
(Wenner and Read 1982). 
Squillidae — Parasquilla coccea was represented by a single 
individual taken from a grouper caught 6 August 1985 south of 
Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina in 148 m. It is a tropical stomato- 
pod of the shelf edge and upper slope (82-382 m) and has not 
