Wide Open Winter

[dos ballenas]

CalCOFI? What the hell is that?

Red crabs spend a lot of time on the sea floor..... and as Chris said they can be found here year round.... I find red crab in yellowtail stomachs all year round every year... some year more than others....

Below is a small exert from an older paper:

The Benthic and Pelagic Habitats of the Red Crab, Pleuroncodes planipes
CARL M. B OYDl

It appears that P. planipes lives to some
extent on the bottom in its first two years of
life and is also found as a planktonic animal
at this stage. The relative amount of time spent
in these two environments is unknown, but
data from plankton collections indicate that
there is some diurnal exchange between them,
with crabs occurring in the surface water at night
and settling to greater depths and perhaps to
the bottom during the daytime hours (when a
suitable bottom is available) . After their second year of life the crabs assume a strictly
benthic existence and become segregated fr om
younger animals by assuming a deeper environment.