Bairdi crab, Tanner crab
Chionoecetes bairdi is a species of snow crab, alternatively known as bairdi crab and tanner crab. C. bairdi is closely related to Chionoecetes opilio, and it can be difficult to distinguish C. opilio from C. bairdi. Both species are found in the Bering Sea and are sold commercially under the name "snow crab." Tanner crabs have suffered from overfishing and as a result strict controls have been placed on tanner crab fisheries. It was named by Mary Jane Rathbun, a Smithsonian employee who became one of the leading authorities on crab taxonomy. She named the crab for Spencer Baird, her mentor, who in the 1880s as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and head of the United States Fish Commission, had given her her first position.
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ScavengerScavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While sc...
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OviparousOviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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Tanner crabs are considered a short-tailed or "true" crab. They are decapods with pincer claws on their frontmost pair of legs. They can live over a decade with most adults reaching 1 to 4 pounds (0.45 to 1.81 kg) by the time they reach adulthood, usually after about five years. Females will incubate fertilized eggs for a full year before hatching during spring plankton blooming season. The larvae are at first able to swim, but lose this ability and settle to the bottom after about two months. The tanners' diet consist mostly of other ocean bottom crustaceans, clams and worms. Bottomfish and humans are their main predators. Little is known about their social structure except that the sexes remain mostly separate except during mating season. Tanner crabs are vulnerable to bitter crab disease.
