Rhithropanopeus

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Rhithropanopeus harrisii
Krab na Belosaraiskoi kose 1.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Panopeidae
Genus: Rhithropanopeus
Rathbun, 1898
Species:
R. harrisii
Binomial name
Rhithropanopeus harrisii
(Gould, 1841)  [1]
Synonyms   [1]

Pilumnus harrisiiGould, 1841
Pilumnus tridentatus Maitland, 1874
Heteropanope tridentatus Tesch, 1922
Panopeus wurdemanniiGibbes, 1850

Rhithropanopeus harrisii (common names include the Zuiderzee crab, [2] dwarf crab, [2] estuarine mud crab, [3] Harris mud crab, [3] white-fingered mud crab, [4] and white-tipped mud crab) is a small omnivorous crab native to Atlantic coasts of the Americas, from New Brunswick to Veracruz. [2]

R. harrisii is usually found in brackish water, but can also be found in freshwater. It likes to live on stones and in oyster beds. The crab can reach a maximum size of 20 millimetres (0.8 in). It has an olive-green-brownish color, sometimes with dark spots on its carapace.

It is a common inhabitant of Texas and Florida estuaries, but was later introduced all over the world. [3] In 1937, it was discovered to be invading the San Francisco Bay's brackish waters and adjacent fresh waters of the California Central Valley. [3] It was also recently discovered in the Third Lock Lake in Panama, a man-made lake intended to be a part of the Panama Canal. [5]

R. harrisii was first discovered in Europe in the Zuider Zee, the Netherlands, and is now also found in Denmark, Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Estonia, Finland, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria, from the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. [2] [6] [7]

In the British Isles, R. harrisii has only been observed in Roath Docks, Cardiff, which have lower salinity (12) than the surrounding waters.

Breeding freshwater populations have been found in the Brazos River basin in Texas, notably the Possum Kingdom State Park and Lake Granbury. Populations have also been discovered in Lake Texoma and Lake E.V. Spence. [8] Its presence in the Baltic Sea is blamed for a negative ecosystem shift. [9]

A record of this species was made in Brazil, but might represent a misidentification. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>Hemigrapsus sanguineus</i> Species of crab

Hemigrapsus sanguineus, the Japanese shore crab or Asian shore crab, is a species of crab from East Asia. It has been introduced to several other regions, and is now an invasive species in North America and Europe. It was introduced to these regions by ships from Asia emptying their ballast tanks in coastal waters.

<i>Hemigrapsus takanoi</i> Species of crab

Hemigrapsus takanoi, the brush-clawed shore crab or Asian shore crab, is a small crab of the family Varunidae that lives on rocky shores surrounding the Pacific Ocean, and which is invasive along the European coastlines. This crab is omnivorous and eats small fish, invertebrates and algae.

<i>Helice tridens</i> Species of crab

Helice tridens is a species of crab which lives on mudflats around the coasts of Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

<i>Potamon fluviatile</i> Species of crab

Potamon fluviatile is a freshwater crab found in or near wooded streams, rivers and lakes in Southern Europe. It is an omnivore with broad ecological tolerances, and adults typically reach 50 mm (2 in) in size during their 10–12 year lifespan. They inhabit burrows and are aggressive, apparently outcompeting native crayfish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eubrachyura</span> Group of crabs

Eubrachyura is a group of decapod crustaceans comprising the more derived crabs. It is divided into two subsections, based on the position of the genital openings in the two sexes. In the Heterotremata, the openings are on the legs in the males, but on the sternum in females, while in the Thoracotremata, the openings are on the sternum in both sexes. This contrasts with the situation in other decapods, in which the genital openings are always on the legs. Heterotremata is the larger of the two groups, containing the species-rich superfamilies Xanthoidea and Pilumnoidea and all the freshwater crabs. The eubrachyura is well known for actively and constantly building its own burrows. The fossil record of the Eubrachyura extends back to the Cretaceous; the supposed Bathonian representative of the group, Hebertides jurassica, ultimately turned out to be Cenozoic in age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heterotremata</span> Clade of crabs

Heterotremata is a clade of crabs, comprising those crabs in which the genital openings are on the sternum in females, but on the legs in males. It comprises 68 families in 28 superfamilies.

<i>Pachygrapsus marmoratus</i> Species of crab

Pachygrapsus marmoratus is a species of crab, sometimes called the marbled rock crab or marbled crab, which lives in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Atlantic Ocean. It is dark violet brown, with yellow marbling, and with a body up to 36 millimetres (1.4 in) long. A semiterrestrial omnivore, it feeds on algae and various animals including mussels and limpets.

<i>Xantho poressa</i> Species of crab

Xantho poressa, the jaguar round crab, is a species of crab from the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is one of four species in the genus Xantho.

<i>Amarinus lacustris</i> Species of crab

Amarinus lacustris is a species of freshwater crab from Australia, New Zealand and nearby islands, where it lives in water of various salinities. It grows up to 10 mm (0.4 in) wide, with an H-shaped groove on its back. It is an omnivore and is eaten by crayfish and fish. It was first discovered in Lake Pupuke, near Auckland, and is the only freshwater crab in New Zealand.

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

The Panopeidae are a family containing 26 genera of morphologically similar crabs, often known as "mud crabs". Their centers of diversity are the Atlantic Ocean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crabs of the British Isles</span>

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.

Brachynotus sexdentatus is a species of crab in the family Varunidae. It is native to the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, and became established for a time in Swansea Docks. It grows to a maximum carapace width of 18 mm (0.71 in), and lives in shallow water on muddy bottoms.

Syntripsa flavichela is a species of freshwater crab found in Lake Towuti and Lake Mahalona on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Migmathelphusa olivacea is a species of freshwater crab found in Lake Poso on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It is the only species in its genus. It is listed by the IUCN as Endangered, given "its extent of occurrence and area of occupancy is less than 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi)", and its individuals being found in less than five locations. There is also a "decline in the extent and quality of its habitat and it is not found in a protected area". Being found around a lake, "present and future threats to this species include human-induced habitat loss/degradation due to population increases and industrial and agrarian development".

Perisesarma guttatum, the red-claw mangrove crab, is a crab species in the genus Parasesarma and the family Sesarmidae. It is distributed in coastal brackish water habitats of the western Indian Ocean.

<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.

<i>Palaemon macrodactylus</i> Species of crustacean

Palaemon macrodactylus is a species of shrimp of the family Palaemonidae.

Leptuca subcylindrica, commonly known as the Laguna Madre fiddler crab or the puffed fiddler crab, is a sparsely-studied species of fiddler crab native to southern Texas and northeastern Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico.

Leptuca leptodactyla, commonly known as the thin-fingered fiddler crab or the western Atlantic fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to the western Atlantic coast of the Americas.

References

  1. 1 2 P. K. L. Ng; D. Guinot & P. 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.
  2. 1 2 3 4 C. Mettam & P. F. Clark. "Rhithropanopeus harrisii". Joint Nature Conservation Committee . Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Harriet Perry (April 24, 2006). "Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould, 1841)".
  4. "Introduced Crab Parasites Hijack Mud Crab Reproduction in Chesapeake Bay". Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. August 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  5. Dominique G. Roche & Mark E. Torchin (2007). "Established population of the North American Harris mud crab, Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould 1841) (Crustacea: Brachyura: Xanthidae) in the Panama Canal" (PDF). Aquatic Invasions . 2 (3): 155–161. doi: 10.3391/ai.2007.2.3.1 .
  6. Joana Projecto-Garcia; Henrique Cabral; Christoph D. Schubart (2010). "High regional differentiation in a North American crab species throughout its native range and invaded European waters: a phylogeographic analysis". Biological Invasions . 12: 263–263. doi:10.1007/s10530-009-9447-y.
  7. Joanna Hegele-Drywa; Nicolas Thiercelin; Christoph D. Schubart; Monika Normant-Saremba (2015). "Genetic diversity of the non-native crab Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Brachyura: Panopeidae) in the Polish coastal waters− an example of patchy genetic diversity at a small geographic scale". Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies . 44 (3): 305–315. doi: 10.1515/ohs-2015-0029 .
  8. Terrence Boyle Jr.; Donald Keith & Russell Pfau (2010). "Occurrence, reproduction, and population genetics of the estuarine mud crab, Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould) (Decapoda, Panopidae) in Texas freshwater reservoirs". Crustaceana . 83 (4): 493–505. doi:10.1163/001121610X492148.
  9. Kotta, J.; Wernberg, T.; Jänes, H.; Kotta, I.; Nurkse, K.; Pärnoja, M.; Orav-Kotta, H. (12 April 2018). "Novel crab predator causes marine ecosystem regime shift". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 4956. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-23282-w. PMC   5897427 . PMID   29651152.
  10. Dominique G. Roche & Mark E. Torchin (2007). "Established population of the North American Harris mud crab, Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould 1841) (Crustacea: Brachyura: Xanthidae) in the Panama Canal" (PDF). Aquatic Invasions . 2 (3): 155–161. doi: 10.3391/ai.2007.2.3.1 .