Tanner Crab, Chionoecetes bairdi
![[Tanner Crab, Chionoecetes bairdi, crabbairdi.jpg=71KB]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20080921160058im_/http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/kodiak/images/photo/crabbairdi.jpg)
In the family Oregoniidae, the Tanner crab, Chionoecetes bairdi,
is an important commercial species in the Bering Sea and around Kodiak Island. They range from
Norton Sound (NMFS Unpublished data), the Bering Sea to Winchester Bay off Oregon,
and the coasts of Hokkaido, Japan (Kon, 1996) and the West coast of Kamchatka
(Fujita et al., 1977). They prefer depths of 6-474 meters and are found usually on soft
bottom of mud or sand. Males are larger than females; males measure to 140 mm (5.4
inches) and females to 81 mm (3.5 in). Females form large mating aggregations
in mounds of hundreds of crab. In 1991, Stevens et al. (1994) discovered these
mounds with the DSV/Delta in Chiniak Bay off Kodiak Island. Tanner crab are similar in appearance
to snow crab, C. Opilio; C.Bairdi is distinguished by the red cornea of the eye
versus green in C. Opilio.
Scientific name: Greek Chio (snow) and oiketes
(an inhabitant).
Digital photo by Jan Haaga. References (a complete list) in the text include: Jensen (1995), Williams et al. (1988), Barr (1983), or Hart (1982).
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