Food of the Tanner Crab Chionoecetes Bairdi Near Kodiak Island, Alaska

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Abstract
[To manage a fishery effectively, knowledge of distribution, abundance, biology and behavior of the species is essential.] Stomach contents of 1025 Tanner crabs (C. bairdi) > 40 mm carapace width (CW) from 3 areas and 9 sampling peroids were examined quantitatively near Kokiak Island, Alaska; 857 (84%) of the crabs contained food. Arthropods (mainly juvenile C. bairdi) dominated the food weight. Fishes and mollusks (mainly the bivalves Macoma spp. and Yoldia spp.) were the 2nd- and 3rd-most important food groups, by weight. No significant difference in quantity of food was observed between sexes; significant differences were apparent in quantity of food consumed in sampling peroids, areas, depths, size groups and crab exoskeleton classes. Consumption was greatest during Nov. and Feb. when the crabs were outside of the bays in localized deep-water (126-150 m) on the Kodiak Shelf. Small Tanner crabs (40-90 mm CW) generally contained more food than did large crabs (100-179 mm CW), and new-shell crabs consumed a greater amount of food than did old-shell crabs. Stomach content of an additional 475 Tanner crabs .ltoreq. 40 mm CW were examined near Kodiak Island by the frequency-of-occurrence method of analysis; 449 (95%) contained food. Mollusks (mainly the bivalves Axinopsida serricata and Nucula tenuis), fishes, decapod crustaceans and polychaetes were found, in decreasing frequency of occurrence. Sediment was also frequently found.

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