The decline of eastern Bering Sea snow (Chionoecetes opilio) and Tanner (Chionoecetes bairdi) crab has coincided with loss of spring sea ice extent and northward contraction of the ‘cold pool,’ a layer of cold (< 2 °C) summer bottom water. We measured temperature-associated growth and lipid storage of lab-reared Tanner crab, as well as the fatty acid content of field-collected juvenile Chionoecetes spp. Field collections occurred during a cold, high sea ice year (2012) and a warm, low ice year (2014), representative of cold and warm climate stanzas in the southeastern Bering Sea. Lab-reared Tanner crab maintained the lowest growth rates but highest lipids under cold conditions (2 °C). In the field, crabs contained higher fatty acids per wet weight (mg g⁻¹) during 2012 than during 2014. Water column-integrated chlorophyll a (chla, an indicator of phytoplankton biomass) from large particles (> 10 µm) such as diatoms was elevated in the colder year particularly over the central middle shelf. During the cold year, crab storage of diatom-sourced fatty acids (16:1n-7 to 16:0, r² = 0.72) as well as a station-specific relationship between large size-fraction integrated chla and crab total fatty acids (r² = 0.5) points to the potential importance of diatoms to juvenile crab nutrition. Our results suggest that continued warming and loss of sea ice across the Bering Sea may reduce juvenile crab lipid storage through both direct thermal effects as well as through the reduction of large-size phytoplankton delivered to the benthos.

白令海东部雪 ( Chionoecetes opilio ) 和 Tanner ( Chionoecetes bairdi ) 螃蟹的减少恰逢春季海冰范围的消失和“冷池”向北收缩，这是一层寒冷 (< 2 °C) 的夏季底水. 我们测量了实验室饲养的 Tanner 蟹与温度相关的生长和脂质储存，以及现场采集的幼年Chionoecetes spp的脂肪酸含量。实地采集发生在寒冷的高海冰年（2012 年）和温暖的低冰年（2014 年），代表了白令海东南部的冷暖气候节。实验室饲养的 Tanner 蟹在寒冷条件下 (2 °C) 保持最低的生长速度，但保持最高的脂质。在田间，螃蟹每湿重含有较高的脂肪酸（mg g^-1 ) 在 2012 年期间比在 2014 年期间。来自大颗粒（> 10 µm）如硅藻的水柱综合叶绿素 a（chla，浮游植物生物量的指标）在较冷的年份升高，特别是在中央中陆架上。在寒冷的年份，螃蟹储存的硅藻源脂肪酸（16:1n-7 到 16:0，r ²  = 0.72）以及大尺寸分数综合 chla 和螃蟹总脂肪酸之间的特定站点关系（[R ² = 0.5) 指出硅藻对幼蟹营养的潜在重要性。我们的研究结果表明，白令海的持续变暖和海冰消失可能会通过直接热效应以及通过减少输送到底栖动物的大型浮游植物来减少幼蟹的脂质储存。