| Hapalogaster cavicauda | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Anomura |
| Family: | Lithodidae |
| Genus: | Hapalogaster |
| Species: | H. cavicauda |
| Binomial name | |
| Hapalogaster cavicauda | |
Hapalogaster cavicauda is a species of king crab that lives on the Pacific coast of North America.
Hapalogaster cavicauda is a flattened, crab-like crustacean. It grows to a carapace width of 20 millimetres (0.79 in), [2] and is covered in setae (hairs). The hairs on the third maxilliped are used to filter plankton from the water, which the animal feeds on, together with algae scraped from rocks. [3] The females carry their eggs on the tail in winter. [3]
H. cavicauda is found along the Pacific coast of North America from Cape Mendocino in the north, through the Channel Islands, [4] to Isla San Jerónimo, Mexico in the south. [5] It usually lives beneath rocks in the lower part of the intertidal zone. [2]
The related species H. mertensii occurs further north, but shares a similar ecology to that of H. cavicauda. [3]
The species was first described by William Stimpson in 1859 (as a preprint of an article published in 1862). He based the description on a specimen collected by "Mr. A. S. Taylor" at Monterey, California. [6]
The fiddler crab or calling crab can be one of the hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae. These crabs are well known for their extreme sexual dimorphism, where the male crabs have a major claw significantly larger than their minor claw, whilst females claws are both the same size. The name fiddler crab comes from the appearance of their small and large claw together, looking similar to a fiddle.
Porcelain crabs are decapod crustaceans in the widespread family Porcellanidae, which superficially resemble true crabs. They have flattened bodies as an adaptation for living in rock crevices. They are delicate, readily losing limbs when attacked, and use their large claws for maintaining territories. They first appeared in the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic epoch, 145–152 million years ago.
Grapsus grapsus is one of the most common crabs along the western coast of the Americas. It is known as the red rock crab, or, along with other crabs such as Percnon gibbesi, as the Sally Lightfoot crab.
Kiwa hirsuta is a crustacean discovered in 2005 in the South Pacific Ocean. This decapod, which is approximately 15 cm (5.9 in) long, is notable for the quantity of silky blond setae covering its pereiopods. Its discoverers dubbed it the "yeti lobster" or "yeti crab".
Oedignathus inermis is a species of king crab found off the Pacific coasts of the United States and Canada, from California to Alaska, and disjunctly around the coasts of Japan. It is the only species in the genus Oedignathus, and is sometimes called the granular claw crab, paxillose crab, or tuberculate nestling lithode crab.
Urticina crassicornis, commonly known as the mottled anemone, the painted anemone or the Christmas anemone, is a large and common intertidal and subtidal species of sea anemone. Its habitat includes a large portion of the coastal areas of the northern hemisphere, mainly polar regions, and it lives a solitary life for up to 80 years. Mottled anemones are similar to Dahlia anemones and both are commonly referred to as northern red anemones.
Pagurus hirsutiusculus is a species of hermit crab, commonly called the hairy hermit crab. It lives from the Bering Strait south to California and Japan, from the intertidal zone to a depth of 110 m (360 ft).
Cryptolithodes sitchensis, known as the umbrella crab, is a species of lithodid crustacean native to coastal regions of the northeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from Sitka, Alaska to Point Loma, California. Its carapace extends over its legs such that when it pulls in its legs, it resembles a small stone. It lives in rocky areas from the low intertidal to depths of 17 m (56 ft).
Neotrypaea californiensis, the Bay ghost shrimp, is a species of ghost shrimp that lives on the Pacific coast of North America. It is a pale animal which grows to a length of 11.5 cm (4.5 in). One claw is bigger than the other, especially in males, and the enlarged claw is thought to have a function in mating. N. californiensis is a deposit feeder that lives in extensive burrow systems, and is responsible for high rates of bioturbation. It adversely affects oyster farms, and its numbers are controlled in some places by the application of pesticides. It carries out an important role in the ecosystem, and is used by fishermen as bait.
Pagurus samuelis, the blueband hermit crab, is a species of hermit crab from the west coast of North America, and the most common hermit crab in California. It is a small species, with distinctive blue bands on its legs. It prefers to live in the shell of the black turban snail, and is a nocturnal scavenger of algae and carrion.
Emerita analoga, the Pacific sand crab, Pacific mole crab or coldwater mole crab, is a species of small, sand-burrowing decapod crustacean found living in the sand along the temperate western coasts of North and South America. It is found on exposed sandy beaches in the swash region of the intertidal zone.
Calcinus tubularis is a species of hermit crab. It is found in the Mediterranean Sea and around islands in the Atlantic Ocean, where it lives below the intertidal zone. Its carapace, eyestalks and claws are marked with numerous red spots. C. tubularis and its sister species, C. verrilli, are the only hermit crabs known to show sexual dimorphism in shell choice, with males using normal marine gastropod shells, while females use shells of gastropods in the family Vermetidae, which are attached to rocks or other hard substrates.
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.
Evasterias troschelii is a species of starfish in the family Asteriidae. Its common names include the mottled star, false ochre sea star and Troschel's true star. It is found in Kamchatka and the north western coast of North America.
Loxorhynchus grandis, commonly known as the sheep crab or spider crab, is a species of crab in the family Epialtidae. It is the largest crab found on the California coast. The species was first described to science by William Stimpson in 1857. The type specimen was collected on the coast of California, near San Francisco. Fossils from the late Miocene epoch indicate that this species is at least 11.63 to 5.333 million years old.
Crustaceans are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are a part of the subphylum Crustacea, a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthropods including decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, opossum shrimps, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can be treated as a subphylum under the clade Mandibulata. It is now well accepted that the hexapods emerged deep in the Crustacean group, with the completed pan-group referred to as Pancrustacea. The three classes Cephalocarida, Branchiopoda and Remipedia are more closely related to the hexapods than they are to any of the other crustaceans.
The gulf ghost crab, Hoplocypode occidentalis, is a species of ghost crabs native to the Pacific coast of the Americas, from the Gulf of California to Colombia. It is the only species in the genus Hoplocypode. Gulf ghost crabs are medium-sized, reaching a maximum overall body diameter of 6 in (15 cm). They are one of only two ghost crab species found in the eastern Pacific. However, gulf ghost crabs can easily be distinguished from painted ghost crabs by the absence of "horns" on their eyes.
Moreiradromia antillensis is a species of decapods in the family sponge crab. This species lives in the Western and central Atlantic Ocean.
Geograpsus lividus is a species of crab in the family Grapsidae. Little research has been conducted on this species. It was originally classified as belonging to the genus Grapsus; however, this name is no longer used.
Johngarthia planata is a bright orange species of land crab that lives on inshore islands and the continental mainland coast of the tropical and subtropical Pacific coast of the Americas, including the Gulf of California, Costa Rica, Colombia, and continental mainland beaches of Mexico. The crabs are omnivorous and feed on seaweed (algae), vegetation and sometimes carrion.
Media related to Hapalogaster cavicauda at Wikimedia Commons
