Chionoecetes bairdi   Rathbun, 1924

Tanner crab
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Malacostraca | Decapoda | Oregoniidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Benthic; brackish; depth range 9 - 466 m (Ref. 865).  Polar; 63°N - 41°N, 141°E - 122°W

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Pacific Ocean and Northwest Atlantic: from the Oregon coast north to Norton Sound and west to Hokkaido in Japan and the Russian coast of the Bering Sea. Polar to temperate.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 8.0, range 8 - 9.7 cm Max length : 15.0 cm CW male/unsexed; (Ref. 865); max. reported age: 12 years (Ref. 101937)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Maximum depth from Ref. 104115. Found in continental shelf. Epibenthic (Ref. 8740). Typically inhabits muddy substrates but also on sandy bottoms or on gravel in shallow waters. It feeds on clams, other crabs, barnacles, shrimps, polychaetes, ophiuroids, and fish. It is preyed on by demersal fish, skates, larger crabs, octopus, and sea otter. Migration: Offshore migration with age, primiparous females mate in shallow waters while multiparous females mate in deeper waters. Males move upward into the littoral zone during spring molt. Diseases: (1) Bitter crab disease, caused by a dinoflagellate of the genus Hematodinium; the dinoflagellate replaces the crab's blood cells, causing the shell to turn pinkish-ivory in color and imparts a bitter taste to the crabmeat. (2) Black mat syndrome, a fungal infection; black tar-like covering the crab's shell, also prevents molting and may cause death (Ref. 101937).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Mating behavior: Males wrap around the females with their legs (Ref. 101909, 101937) and use their first pair of pleopods to fertilize the females' eggs (Ref. 8601). Females can fertilize at least one egg clutch with their stored sperm from previous matings (Ref. 101909). Bipartite spawning behavior: (a) primaparous females mate in soft-shelled condition, unable to wave off the males during copulation; and (b) multiparous females mate in hard-shelled condition immediately after hatching of their previous egg clutch, they are aggressively grasped by the males (Ref. 101937). Life cycle: Eggs hatch into larvae and undergo 3 planktonic stages (prezoea, zoea I and zoea II) before they develop into megalopa, the first benthic stage (Ref. 101937).

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Stone, R.P., M.M. Masuda and J.E. Clark. 2003. (Ref. 8597)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
| FishSource |

Tools

E-book | Field guide

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Price category (Ref. 80766): Very high.