This paper provides information on Antarctic crabs obtained during the 1986 Spanish survey ANTARTIDA 8611, which covered the shelf around all the archipelagos in the Scotia Sea. A total of 345 hauls was conducted, of which 29 took place around Shag Rocks, 104 at South Georgia, eight around the South Sandwich Islands, 93 around the South Orkneys, 46 at Elephant Island and 65 around the South Shetlands. Depths surveyed ranged from 63 m down to 643 m. In the whole of the area surveyed, the two crab species of the genus Paralomis (P. spinosissima and P. formosa) were found only around Shag Rocks and South Georgia. P. spinosissima was caught in seven hauls of the 29 made around Shag Rocks and in 20 of the 104 hauls made at South Georgia. P. formosa was caught twice, once in each zone. The bathymetric distribution of P. spinosissima ranged from 160 to 627 m and that of P. formosa, far less frequent in the catches, from 320 to 350 m. Field observations showed that these two species were absent from the southern archipelagos of the Scotia Arc (South Orkney, Elephant Island and South Shetland), at least in the depth range surveyed. The location of the hauls where Paralomis spp. were found, together with the qualitative composition of the fish fauna usually accompanying them in the catches, suggest that P. spinosissima and P. formosa tend to concentrate in areas close to the shelf break, where environmental conditions show some degree of stability.