Metacarcinus anthonyi Temporal range: | |
---|---|
Exuvia of Metacarcinus anthonyi | |
Metacarcinus anthonyi male | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Decapoda |
Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
Infraorder: | Brachyura |
Family: | Cancridae |
Genus: | Metacarcinus |
Species: | M. anthonyi |
Binomial name | |
Metacarcinus anthonyi (Rathbun, 1897) | |
Metacarcinus anthonyi range | |
Synonyms | |
Cancer anthonyiRathbun, 1897 [1] |
Metacarcinus anthonyi, the yellow rock crab or yellow crab, is a species of edible crab native to the Pacific coast of North America.
Metacarcinus anthonyi occurs from Magdalena Bay, Baja California north to Humboldt Bay in Northern California, although it is uncommon further north than San Pedro. [2] It lives in rocky areas at depths of up to 132 m (433 ft). [2] Only the juveniles live in the intertidal zone. [3]
Some fossils of M. anthonyi are also known from central and southern California, dating from the Pliocene and Pleistocene. [2]
Male yellow rock crabs can reach 165 mm carapace width, while females reach 148 mm. [4] The carapace is oval, fairly broad, and widest at the 9th of 10 forward-curving anterolateral teeth. Like other California Cancridae crabs, M. anthonyi has black-tipped claws. M. anthonyi can be distinguished from Romaleon antennarium by its lack of red spotting on its underside. M. anthonyi also tends not to decorate itself and tends not to have hairy legs. It can vary in coloration from yellow to brown with the juvenile crabs tending to be darker than adults.
Metacarcinus anthonyi is one of only two species that regularly reach the minimum landing size for crabs in Southern California – the other being Cancer productus – and is the subject of commercial fisheries. [3] R. antennarium is also caught throughout Southern California commercially [3]
Metacarcinus anthonyi is an ecologically important species. It is prey for many fish including the scorpion fish, barred sand bass and other rock fishes. M. anthonyi is also prey for sea otters, a threatened species. M. anthonyi is both a scavenger and a predator eating anything that the large claws can crush including echinoderms, snails and clams.
Metacarcinus anthonyi reaches sexual maturity after 10–12 molts. [5] Mating typically takes place in June, and occurs shortly after the females have molted. [2] Before molting, females release a pheromone which induces courtship behavior in the males. [2]
Metacarcinus anthonyi was first described by Mary J. Rathbun in 1897, under the name Cancer anthonyi. [1] The specific epithet commemorates Alfred Webster Anthony, a naturalist working in San Diego. [6]
Metacarcinus anthonyi is harvested by sport and commercial fishermen in California, mostly from Morro Bay south. The California rock crab fishery is made up of three species - the yellow rock crab (C. anthonyi), the brown rock crab ( C. antennarius ), and the red rock crab ( C. productus ). Rock crab landings for 1999 were 790,000 pounds and have averaged 1.2 million pounds per year from 1991-1999. [7]
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.
The Dungeness crab makes up one of the most important seafood industries along the west coast of North America. Its typical range extends from Alaska's Aleutian Islands to Point Conception, near Santa Barbara, California. Dungeness typically grow 6–7 in (150–180 mm) at their widest point and inhabit eelgrass beds and sandy bottoms. Its common name comes from the Dungeness Spit in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington state, United States, which shelters a shallow bay inhabited by the crabs.
The California spiny lobster is a species of spiny lobster found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Monterey Bay, California, to the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico. It typically grows to a length of 30 cm (12 in) and is a reddish-brown color with stripes along the legs, and has a pair of enlarged antennae but no claws. The interrupted grooves across the tail are characteristic for the species.
Cancer pagurus, commonly known as the edible crab or brown crab, is a species of crab found in the North Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and perhaps the Mediterranean Sea. It is a robust crab of a reddish-brown colour, having an oval carapace with a characteristic "pie crust" edge and black tips to the claws. A mature adult may have a carapace width up to 25 centimetres and weigh up to 3 kilograms. C. pagurus is a nocturnal predator, targeting a range of molluscs and crustaceans. It is the subject of the largest crab fishery in Western Europe, centred on the coasts of the British Isles, with more than 60,000 tonnes caught annually.
The Florida stone crab is a crab found in the western North Atlantic, from Connecticut to Colombia, including Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, Belize, Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba, The Bahamas, and the East Coast of the United States. The crab can also be found in and around the salt marshes of South Carolina and Georgia. It is widely caught for food. The closely related species Menippe adina is sometimes considered a subspecies – they can interbreed, forming hybrids – and they are treated as one species for commercial fishing, with their ranges partly overlapping. The two species are believed to have diverged approximately 3 million years ago.
The Tasmanian giant crab, also known as the giant deepwater crab, giant southern crab, queen crab, or bullcrab, is a very large species of crab that resides on rocky and muddy bottoms in the oceans off Southern Australia. It is the only extant species in the genus Pseudocarcinus.
The leopard shark is a species of houndshark, in the family Triakidae. It is found along the Pacific coast of North America, from the U.S. state of Oregon to Mazatlán in Mexico. Typically measuring 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft) long, this slender-bodied shark is immediately identifiable by the striking pattern of black saddle-like markings and large spots over its back, from which it derives its common name. Large schools of leopard sharks are a common sight in bays and estuaries, swimming over sandy or muddy flats or rock-strewn areas near kelp beds and reefs. They are most common near the coast, in water less than 4 m (13 ft) deep.
The Jonah crab is a marine brachyuran crab that inhabits waters along the east coast of North America from Newfoundland to Florida. Jonah crabs possess a rounded, rough-edged carapace with small light spots, and robust claws with dark brown-black tips. The maximum reported carapace width for males is 8.7 in (222 mm), while females rarely exceed 5.9 in (150 mm). It is the closest relative to the European brown crab in the Western Atlantic.
The red king crab, also called Kamchatka crab or Alaskan king crab, is a species of king crab native to cold waters in the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas, but also introduced to the Barents Sea. It grows to a leg span of 1.8 m (5.9 ft), and is heavily targeted by fisheries.
Ovalipes catharus, commonly known as paddle crab and Māori: pāpaka, is a species of crab of the family Portunidae. It is found around the coasts of New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, and in south-eastern parts of Australia. Individuals from shallow waters, 0.1–0.5 metres (4–20 in) deep, have a carapace width of only 10–15 millimetres (0.4–0.6 in), while those from 5–15 m (16–49 ft) are 100–140 mm (3.9–5.5 in) wide.
Cancer productus, one of several species known as red rock crabs, is a crab of the genus Cancer found on the western coast of North America. This species is commonly nicknamed the Pearl of the Pacific Northwest.
Romaleon antennarium, commonly known as the Pacific, brown or California rock crab, is a crab of the genus Romaleon found on the western coast of North America.
The tiger rockfish, also called tiger seaperch, banded rockfish and black-banded rockfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is native to the waters of the Pacific Ocean off western North America.
Nucella ostrina, the northern striped dogwinkle, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. Other common names for this mollusk include emarginate dogwinkle, short-spired purple dogwinkle, striped dogwinkle, ribbed dogwinkle, emarginate whelk, ribbed rock whelk, rock thais, short-spired purple snail and rock whelk.
Cryptolithodes typicus, often referred to as the butterfly crab or the turtle crab, is a species of lithodid crustacean native to coastal regions of the northeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from Amchitka Island, Alaska to Santa Rosa Island, California.
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.
The brown rockfish, whose other names include brown seaperch, chocolate bass, brown bass and brown bomber, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean.
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.
Metacarcinus edwardsii, sometimes known as mola rock crab, southern rock crab, or Chilean rock crab, is a species of crab from the Pacific coast of South America.
Arenaeus cribrarius, the speckled swimming crab, is a species of swimming crab in the family Portunidae.