Callinectes marginatus

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Callinectes marginatus
Callinectes marginatus.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Portunidae
Genus: Callinectes
Species:
C. marginatus
Binomial name
Callinectes marginatus
Synonyms   [1]
  • Callinectes diacanthus var. africanusA. Milne-Edwards, 1879
  • Callinectes larvatusOrdway, 1863
  • Neptunus marginatusA. Milne-Edwards, 1861

Callinectes marginatus, commonly known as the sharptooth swimcrab or marbled swimcrab, is a species of swimming crab in the family Portunidae.

Description

Its carapace bears nine spines behind each eye, the last of which is around twice the length of the previous one, making the whole carapace around 10 centimetres (3.9 in) wide. [2]

Distribution and ecology

Although the name Callinectes marginatus was used by Mary J. Rathbun and others to also cover animals now referred to the species C. larvatus and C. diacanthus , C. marginatus is now used only for a species found from the Cape Verde Islands and Nouadhibou, Mauritania to Angola. [3]

C. marginatus appears to be entirely marine, unlike some of its congeners, although there are records from the estuaries of the Congo River and the Hwini River. [3] The crabs dig holes around 30 cm (12 in) wide in mudflats. [4]

Related Research Articles

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Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the world's oceans, in freshwater, and on land, are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton, and have a single pair of pincers on each arm. They first appeared during the Jurassic Period.

<i>Callinectes sapidus</i> Species of crustacean

Callinectes sapidus, the blue crab, Atlantic blue crab, or, regionally, the Maryland blue crab, is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and introduced internationally.

<i>Scylla serrata</i> Species of crab

Scylla serrata is an ecologically important species of crab found in the estuaries and mangroves of Africa, Australia, and Asia. In their most common forms, their shell colours vary from a deep, mottled green to very dark brown.

<i>Carcinus maenas</i> Species of invasive crab

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<i>Portunus pelagicus</i> Species of crab

Portunus pelagicus, also known as the blue crab, blue swimmer crab, blue manna crab and flower crab is a species of large crab found in the Indo-Pacific, including off the coasts Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam; and in the intertidal estuaries around most of Australia and east to New Caledonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portunidae</span> Family of crabs

Portunidae is a family of crabs which contains the swimming crabs. Its members include many well-known shoreline crabs, such as the blue crab and velvet crab. Two genera in the family are contrastingly named Scylla and Charybdis; the former contains the economically important species black crab and Scylla paramamosain.

<i>Carcinus aestuarii</i> Species of crab

Carcinus aestuarii, also known as the Mediterranean green crab is a littoral crab, native to the Mediterranean Sea.

<i>Charybdis</i> (crab) Genus of crabs

Charybdis is a genus of swimming crabs in the family Portunidae. It is named after the monster Charybdis of Greek mythology.

<i>Callinectes bellicosus</i> Species of crab

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crab fisheries</span> Fisheries which capture or farm crabs

Crab fisheries are fisheries which capture or farm crabs. True crabs make up 20% of all crustaceans caught and farmed worldwide, with about 1.4 million tonnes being consumed annually. The horse crab, Portunus trituberculatus, accounts for one quarter of that total. Other important species include flower crabs, snow crabs (Chionoecetes), blue crabs, edible or brown crabs, Dungeness crab, and mud crabs, each of which provides more than 20,000 tonnes annually.

<i>Callinectes similis</i> Species of crab

Callinectes similis, sometimes called the lesser blue crab or dwarf crab, is a West Atlantic species of blue crab. It was described by Austin B. Williams in 1966.

Hematodinium is a genus of dinoflagellates. Species in this genus, such as Hematodinium perezi, the type species, are internal parasites of the hemolymph of crustaceans such as the Atlantic blue crab and Norway lobster. Species in the genus are economically damaging to commercial crab fisheries, including causing bitter crab disease in the large Tanner or snow crab fisheries of the Bering Sea.

<i>Liocarcinus holsatus</i> Species of crab

Liocarcinus holsatus, sometimes known by the common name flying crab, is a species of swimming crab found chiefly in the North Sea, Irish Sea and English Channel. It has a carapace up to 4 centimetres (1.6 in) wide, which is brownish-grey with a green tinge. It is very similar in appearance to the harbour crab Liocarcinus depurator.

<i>Liocarcinus navigator</i> Species of crab

Liocarcinus navigator is a species of crab in the family Portunidae.

<i>Liocarcinus pusillus</i> Species of crab

Liocarcinus pusillus, common name dwarf swimming crab, is a species of crab in the Portunidae family.

<i>Dyspanopeus sayi</i> Species of crab

Dyspanopeus sayi is a species of mud crab that is native to the Atlantic coast of North America. It has also become established outside its native range, living in Swansea Docks since 1960, the Mediterranean Sea since the 1970s, the North Sea since 2007 and the Black Sea since 2010. It can reach a carapace width of 20 mm (0.8 in), and has black tips to its unequal claws. It feeds on bivalves and barnacles, and is in turn eaten by predators including the Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Eggs are produced from spring to autumn, the offspring reach sexual maturity the following summer, and individuals can live for up to two years. The closest relative of D. sayi is D. texanus, which lives in the Gulf of Mexico; the two species differ in subtle features of the genitalia and the last pair of walking legs.

<i>Polybius henslowii</i> Species of crab

Polybius henslowii is a species of crab, the only species in the genus Polybius. It is a capable swimmer and feeds in open water in the north-east Atlantic Ocean and western Mediterranean Sea.

Charybdis longicollis, the lesser swimming crab, is a species of crab from the swimming crab family, the Portunidae. It has a native range which covers the north-western Indian Ocean and it has invaded the Mediterranean Sea by Lessepsian migration through the Suez Canal.

<i>Portunus armatus</i> Species of crustacean

Portunus armatus is a species of crustacean, a swimming crab in the family Portunidae found in Australia and eastwards to New Caledonia. Common names include blue swimmer crabs, Blue manna, Blueys, and Jennies. The species was originally considered as a geographic variation of Portunus pelagicus, however in 2010 the Portunus pelagicus species was reviewed using DNA, as well as physical characteristics including measurements and four species recognised: Portunus pelagicus, Portunus armatus, Portunus reticulatis and Portunus segnis. The range of Portunus armatus overlaps with Portunus pelagicus in the Northern Territory of Australia.

References

  1. Peter Davie & Charles Fransen (2010). "Callinectes marginatus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1861)". World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  2. Wolfgang Schneider (1990). "Portunidae: Swimming Crabs" (PDF). Field Guide to the Commercial Marine Resources of the Gulf of Guinea (PDF). Food and Agriculture Organization. pp. 186–188.
  3. 1 2 Raymond B. Manning & Lipke B. Holthuis (1981). "West African Brachyuran Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda)". Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology . 306: 1–379. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.306.
  4. B. B. P. A. van der Laan & Wim J. Wolff (2006). "Circular pools in the seagrass beds of the Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania, and their possible origin" (PDF). Aquatic Botany . 84 (2): 93–100. doi:10.1016/j.aquabot.2005.07.009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2010-10-13.