Xanthidae is a family of crabs known as gorilla crabs, mud crabs, pebble crabs or rubble crabs. Xanthid crabs are often brightly coloured and are highly poisonous, containing toxins which are not destroyed by cooking and for which no antidote is known. The toxins are similar to the tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin produced by puffer fish, and may be produced by bacteria in the genus Vibrio living in symbiosis with the crabs, mostly V. alginolyticus and V. parahaemolyticus.
Mictyris is a genus of brightly coloured crabs, placed in its own taxonomical family, the Mictyridae. It inhabits the central Indo-West Pacific region. These crabs congregate on mud flats or beaches in groups of a few thousand, and filter sand or mud for microscopic organisms. They congregate during low tide, and bury themselves in the sand during high tide or whenever they are threatened. This is done in wet sand, and they dig in a corkscrew pattern, leaving many small round pellets of sand behind them.
The stalk-eyed mud crab is a marine large-eyed crab of the family Macrophthalmidae, endemic to New Zealand including Campbell Island. It grows to around 30 millimetres (1.2 in) shell width. It is either the only species in the subgenus Hemiplax and the most basal species in the genus Macrophthalmus, or the only species in the sister genus Hemiplax.
Lybia is a genus of small crabs in the family Xanthidae. Their common names include boxer crabs, boxing crabs and pom-pom crabs. They are notable for their mutualism with sea anemones, which they hold in their claws for defense. In return, the anemones get carried around, which may enable them to capture more food particles with their tentacles. Boxer crabs use at least three species of anemones, including Bundeopsis spp. and Triactis producta. The bonding with the anemone is not needed for survival, however, and boxer crabs have frequently been known to live without them, sometimes substituting other organisms such as sponges and corals for the sea anemones.
Liocarcinus depurator, sometimes called the harbour crab or sandy swimming crab, is a species of crab found in the North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Black Sea. It grows up to 50 millimetres (2.0 in) in width and 40 mm (1.6 in) long, and can be distinguished from other crabs, such as the shore crab Carcinus maenas, by the curved rows of white spots on its carapace.
Pseudozioidea is a superfamily of crabs, formerly treated in the Eriphioidea, Carpilioidea, Xanthoidea, Pilumnoidea and Goneplacoidea. A number of fossils from the Eocene onwards are known from the family Pseudoziidae. Eleven genera are recognised in three families:
Novactaea is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Paractaea is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Chlorodiella is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Miersiella is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Paramedaeus is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Edwardsium is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Demania is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Euryxanthops is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae. It was originally established in 1983 by Garth & Kim to contain three species of deep-water crabs from Japan and the Philippines - Euryxanthops dorsiconvexus, Euryxanthops flexidentatus and Euryxanthops orientalis. Since then, several more species of this genus have been identified and described, and Euryxanthops currently contains:
Neoxanthops is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Around 65 species of crab occur in the waters of the British Isles. All are marine, with the exception of the introduced Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis, which occurs in fresh and brackish water. They range in size from the deep-water species Paromola cuvieri, which can reach a claw span of 1.2 metres, to the pea crab, which is only 4 mm (0.16 in) wide and lives inside mussel shells.
Pilumnoides inglei is a species of crab, known only from a few specimens collected on derelict boats on the south coast of England.
Pilumnoides is a genus of crabs in the family Pilumnoididae. The genus was erected by Hippolyte Lucas in 1844. It contains the following species:
Pilumnoididae is a family of crabs containing the genera Pilumnoides, with several species, and the monotypic Setozius.
Jacques Forest was a French carcinologist.
