Abstract
1.
1. Oxygen consumption rates (VO
2) were determined for the deep-sea crabs
Chaceon fenneri and
C. quinquedens, two important members of the continental slope megafauna in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
2.
2. The VO
2 of
C. fenneri declined from 0.014 ml O
2/g/hr at 12°C to 0.010 ml O
2/g/hr at 6°C; VO
2 of
C. quinquedens showed a decline from 0.012 ml O
2/g/hr to 0.008 ml O
2/g/hr over the same temperature range.
3.
3. The VO
2 of
C. fermeri and
C. quinquedens are comparable to those of similar size shallow water decapod crustaceans that inhabit equivalent temperatures.
4.
4. The oxygen consumption rates of
C. fenneri and
C. quinquedens decline with increasing depth of occurrence purely as a function of temperature.