 Radio Script 2001 __________________ New Crab Species Found in Alaska Waters
STORY: The newly discovered crabs aren't likely to become dinner favorites anytime soon, since they live out of fishermen's reach some 11,000 feet down in the North Pacific Ocean. Brad Stevens, a crab biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Kodiak, Alaska, found the crabs while exploring the Patton Seamount with the submersible ALVIN, some 250 miles south of Kodiak. STEVENS: "We haven't found any new species per se. But I added a few species that had not been reported previously in Alaska waters. Some of these crabs we knew were there, like the golden king grab and the scarlet king crab. But we also observed a few crabs we weren't expecting to see, such as two species of a crab called paralomas. They are very much like king crabs and at times from the submersible we could not distinguish them from king crabs. But when we captured them, it became obvious that they were different species. So we added those to the list." The six new crabs bring to 71 the number of crab species known to inhabit the frigid subarctic waters off Alaska. The diversity of crabs is especially interesting: everything from the thumbnail-size fuzzy crab, which is covered with delicate, fur-like hair, to the king crab, which has a huge body and legs three feet long. While exploring the seafloor in ALVIN, Stevens made another interesting discovery. STEVENS: "The big surprise was finding a crab called Macroregonia macrochira, which has no common name. But the Latin translation, literally, is large-clawed spider crab. So that's what I'm calling it. Now this crab was first described from the Emperor Seamounts north of Hawaii in 1979. It had not been observed prior to 1979 by anyone, anywhere. So we were very surprised to see it on Patton Seamount, at 54 degrees latitude. It had never been seen that far north. And the reason is that it's a very deep animal. It doesn't exist shallower than 1,000 meters. Really the only way to see it is with a submarine. And it turned out to be the most abundant crab on Patton Seamount, ranging from 1,000 meters to over 3,000 meters, virtually to 11,000 feet, which is as deep as we dove." The large-clawed spider crab has legs about a half-meter long. That's big, but not unusual. Tanner crabs and king crabs have long legs, too. But the legs on this crab are really, really thin. STEVENS: "Take a king crab and put legs on it that are pencil-thin, and you get an idea of what this crab looks like." Brad Stevens thinks the spider crab inhabits the seafloor throughout the North Pacific. Scientists rarely see it because it lives so deep. STEVENS: "My thought on this animal is that it probably exists all across the seafloor of the North Pacific. It probably walks, literally, across the ocean from Japan to the United States—not a single animal in its lifetime—but it has probably spread across the North Pacific because they don't seem to have any depth limitation at all." Stevens will be among the 70 scientists gathering this month in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the latest research on crabs that live in the deep, cold waters of the world. The Sea Grant/Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium is expected to draw researchers from as far away as Norway, Australia, Canada, and Russia. OUTRO: Our thanks this week go to the West Coast and Polar Region's Undersea Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This is Arctic Science Journeys Radio, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I'm Doug Schneider.
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Dr. Brad Stevens Arctic Science Journeys is a radio service highlighting science, culture, and the environment of the circumpolar north. Produced by the Alaska Sea Grant College Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
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