BIOLOGICAL NOTES ON AN ANOMURAN CRAB, LITHODES LONGISPINA SAKAI

Abstract

The anomuran crab, Lithodes longispina SAKAI (Fig. 1), is a species allied to Lithodes turritus and L. aequispina. This crab has been taken from the bottoms, 400-900m deep, off Boso Peninsula and Sagami Bay from March 1969 to March 1971 (Fig. 2, Table 1). Width of carapace ranges from 9.3 to 12.5 cm in the female and from 9.4 to 13.5 cm in the male (Fig. 3). The spawning period of this crab seems to continue from August to October (Fig. 4). The number of incubating eggs was correlated to the carapace width of the crab at the coefficy of correlation, 0.859. The number of eggs ranges from 3,900 to 11,200 per individual female from 9.8 cm to 11.9 cm in carapace width (Fig. 5).