Percnon gibbesi

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Percnon gibbesi
Percnon gibbesi Linosa 053.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Percnidae
Genus: Percnon
Species:
P. gibbesi
Binomial name
Percnon gibbesi
Synonyms

Percnon gibbesi is a species of crab. [1] [3] It is one of at least two species commonly called "Sally Lightfoot" (the other being the semi-terrestrial Grapsus grapsus from the Pacific coast of the Americas), and is also referred to as the nimble spray crab [2] or urchin crab. [4] It has been described as "the most invasive decapod species to enter the Mediterranean". [3]

Contents

Description

Adults have a carapace 30 millimetres (1.2 in) wide, and legs with yellow rings at the joints. [5] Each of the five pairs of walking legs has a row of spines along the leading edge. [5] Females carrying eggs have been caught off West Africa between February and April and August; the larvae which hatch from them are planktonic and long-lived, which may contribute to the species' invasiveness. [5]

Taxonomy

The genus Percnon is currently placed in the family Percnidae, [1] although it has also been placed in Plagusiidae. [2] [6]

Distribution

P. gibbesi is one of the most widespread grapsid crabs, being found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and on the Pacific coast of North America. There, its range extends from California to Chile, while in the Atlantic, it occurs natively from Florida to Brazil and from Madeira to the Gulf of Guinea. [5] It has recently invaded the Mediterranean Sea, having first been discovered at Linosa, Sicily in 1999. [7] It has subsequently been found on the Balearic Islands, in Greece, in Libya in Malta and in Israel. [8]

Ecology

Unusually among temperate crabs, P. gibbesi is strictly herbivorous. [9] In the Caribbean Sea, P. gibbesi is associated with the sea urchin Diadema antillarum . [10] In the Mediterranean Sea, P. gibbesi lives almost exclusively among boulders, and is out-competed by the native species Pachygrapsus marmoratus . [11] P. gibbesi is preyed upon by fish and invertebrates. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Grapsus grapsus</i> Species of crab

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 crabs such as Percnon gibbesi, as the Sally Lightfoot crab.

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

The Grapsidae are a family of crabs known variously as marsh crabs, shore crabs, or talon crabs. The family has not been confirmed to form a monophyletic group and some taxa may belong in other families. They are found along the shore among rocks, in estuaries, marshes, and in some cases pelagic among drifting seaweeds and flotsam.

<i>Cyclograpsus lavauxi</i> Species of crab

The smooth shore crab is a marine large-eyed crab of the family Grapsidae, found in New Zealand and the Juan Fernández Islands of Chile.

<i>Leptograpsus</i> Genus of crabs

Leptograpsus variegatus, known as the purple rock crab, is a marine large-eyed crab of the family Grapsidae, found in southern subtropical Indo-Pacific Oceans. It grows to around 50 millimetres (2.0 in) shell width. It is the only species in the genus Leptograpsus.

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

Charybdis is a genus of swimming crabs in the family Portunidae; "Charybdis" is Greek for whirlpool.

<i>Discoplax</i> Genus of crabs

Discoplax is a genus of terrestrial crabs. It is very closely related to the genus Cardisoma.

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

The Sesarmidae are a family of crabs, previously included in the Grapsidae by many authors. Several species, namely in Geosesarma, Metopaulias, and Sesarma, are true terrestrial crabs. They do not need to return to the sea even for breeding.

<i>Percnon</i> Genus of crabs

Percnon is a genus of crabs in the family Percnidae. It has also been included in the family Plagusiidae as subfamily Percninae.

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

The Plagusiidae are a family of crabs, formerly treated as a subfamily of the family Grapsidae, but have since been considered sufficiently distinct to be a family in their own right. The family Plagusiidae includes the subfamily Plagusiinae, comprising the genera Percnon and Plagusia, which constitute a widespread group of litophilic, intertidal and subtidal crabs that are notorious for their speed and their agility.

<i>Trichodactylidae</i> Family of crabs

Trichodactylidae is a family of crabs, in its own superfamily, Trichodactyloidea. They are all freshwater animals from Central and South America, including some offshore islands, such as Ilhabela, São Paulo. Only one of the 50 species is known from the fossil record, Sylviocarcinus piriformis from the Miocene of Colombia. The family contains 15 genera in two subfamilies:

<i>Hemigrapsus</i> Genus of crabs

Hemigrapsus is a genus of varunid crabs comprising thirteen species native almost exclusively in the Pacific Ocean, but two have been introduced to the North Atlantic region.

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

Leucosiidae is a family of crabs containing three subfamilies and a number of genera incertae sedis:

<i>Echinoecus</i> Genus of crabs

Echinoecus is a genus of crabs that live in association with sea urchins. Formerly considered monotypic, the genus is now thought to contain three species:

<i>Zebrida</i> Genus of crabs

Zebrida is a small genus of distinctive striped crabs, known as zebra crabs, that live in association with sea urchins in the Indo-Pacific.

<i>Cheilodipterus novemstriatus</i> Species of fish

Cheilodipterus novemstriatus, the Indian Ocean twospot cardinalfish, is a species of ray-finned fish from the Indian Ocean, which is a member of the family Apogonidae. It has colonised the eastern Mediterranean Sea by way of the Suez Canal since 2011.

<i>Actaea savignii</i> Species of crab

Actea savignii is a species of Indo-Pacific crab from the family Xanthidae which is one of the spiny-legged rock crabs. It has colonised the Levantine Sea by Lessepsian migration through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea since the mid 2000s.

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>Armases</i> Genus of crabs

Armases is a genus of true crabs in the family Sesarmidae. There are about 13 described species in Armases.

<i>Grapsus tenuicrustatus</i> Species of crab

Grapsus tenuicrustatus, commonly known as thin-shelled rock crab or Natal lightfoot crab, is a species of decapod crustacean in the family Grapsidae.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853)". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 S. Cannicci; L. Garcia & B. S. Galil (2006). "Racing across the Mediterranean — first record of Percnon gibbesi (Crustacea: Decapoda: Grapsidae) in Greece" (PDF). JMBA2 Biodiversity Records. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21.
  4. ↑ Florent Charpin. "Percnon gibbesi". Florent's Guide To The Tropical Reefs. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 B. S. Galil (November 6, 2006). "Percnon gibbesi". Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  6. ↑ Ng, Peter K. L.; Danièle Guinot & Peter J. F. Davie (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology . 17: 1–286.
  7. ↑ Marco Relini; Lidia Orsi; Valentina Puccio; Ernesto Azzurro (2000). "The exotic crab Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) (Decapoda, Grapsidae) in the Central Mediterranean". Scientia Marina . 64 (3): 337–340. doi: 10.3989/scimar.2000.64n3337 .
  8. ↑ Housameddin M. Elkrwe; Hasan M. Elhawaj; Bella S. Galil; Abdallah ben Abdallah (2008). "The first record of Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Plagusiidae) from the southern rim of the Mediterranean" (PDF). Aquatic Invasions . 3 (2): 243–245. doi: 10.3391/ai.2008.3.2.16 . Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21.
  9. ↑ V. Puccio; M. Relini; E. Azzurro; L. Orsi Relini (2006). "Feeding habits of Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) in the Sicily Strait". Hydrobiologia . 557 (1): 79–84. doi:10.1007/s10750-005-1310-2. S2CID   5970848.
  10. ↑ Rickey Wallace (2007). "Frequency of Percnon gibbesi in relation to Diadema antillarum at Rodney's Rock" (PDF). Texas A&M University.
  11. ↑ Marija Sciberras & Patrick J. Schembri (2008). "Biology and interspecific interactions of the alien crab Percnon gibbesi in the Maltese Islands". Marine Biology Research . 4 (5): 321–332. doi: 10.1080/17451000801964923 .
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