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.
Nephrops is a genus of lobsters comprising a single extant species, Nephrops norvegicus, and several fossil species. It was erected by William Elford Leach in 1814, to accommodate N. norvegicus alone, which had previously been placed in genera such as Cancer, Astacus or Homarus. Nephrops means "kidney eye" and refers to the shape of the animal's compound eye.
Calappa is a genus of crabs known commonly as box crabs or shame-faced crabs. The name box crab comes from their distinctly bulky carapace, and the name shame-faced is from anthropomorphising the way the crab's chelae (claws) fold up and cover its face, as if it were hiding its face in shame.
Portunidae is a family of crabs which contains the swimming crabs.
The graceful rock crab or slender crab, Metacarcinus gracilis or Cancer gracilis, is one of only two members of the genus Metacarcinus, recognized by WoRMS, whose chelae (claws) are white tipped, the other crab being M. magister. Both of these eastern Pacific crab species are recognized by ITIS as belonging to the much larger genus Cancer. M. gracilis has been caught from Alaska to Bahía Magdelena, Baja California. Although M. gracilis is only found in the Pacific Ocean, it has cousins in the Atlantic Ocean. The genus Cancer apparently evolved in the Pacific Ocean and later migrated to the Atlantic Ocean. Larvae and small juveniles of this species are often seen riding jellyfish, especially Phacellophora camtschatica. The juvenile crabs steal food from the jellyfish and also clean off parasitic amphipods.
The pie crust crab, is a species of crab found around New Zealand and south-eastern Australia.
Cancridae is a family of crabs. It comprises six extant genera, and ten exclusively fossil genera, in two subfamilies:
Retroplumidae is a family of heterotrematan crabs, placed in their own (monotypic) superfamily, Retroplumoidea.
Metacarcinus starri is an extinct species of crab in the family Cancridae, subfamily Cancrinae. The species is known solely from the early Miocene, Clallam Formation and the underlying Pysht Formation deposits on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, United States.
Goneplacidae is a family of crabs of the order Decapoda and the superfamily Goneplacoidea. It includes the following genera:
Hexapodidae is a family of crabs, the only family in the superfamily Hexapodoidea. It has traditionally been treated as a subfamily of the family Goneplacidae, and was originally described as a subfamily of Pinnotheridae. Its members can be distinguished from all other true crabs by the reduction of the thorax, such that only seven sternites are exposed, and only four pairs of pereiopods are present. Not counting the enlarged pair of claws, this leaves only six walking legs, from which the type genus Hexapus, and therefore the whole family, takes its name. Some anomuran "crabs", such as porcelain crabs and king crabs also have only four visible pairs of legs. With the exception of Stevea williamsi, from Mexico, all the extant members are found either in the Indo-Pacific oceans, or around the coast of Africa.
Metacarcinus is a genus of crabs formerly included in the genus Cancer. It includes nine exclusively fossil species and five extant species, of which four are also known from the fossil record. A molecular study using the cytochrome oxidase I gene does not support the monophyly of this genus.
Romaleon is a genus of marine crabs formerly considered in the genus Cancer.
Actumnus is a genus of crabs in the family Pilumnidae. Alongside the 28 extant species, it has a fossil record extending back into the Miocene.
Planes is a genus of crabs in the family Grapsidae that currently comprises three extant species: Planes minutus, Planes marinus Rathbun, 1914, and Planes major (=cyaneus). A further fossil species is known from the Middle Miocene of the Caucasus.
Anatolikos is a genus of two species of crabs in the family Cancridae. They are recorded from Japan and Taiwan. Two fossil species are known, one from Japan and one from Mexico.
Hepatus is a genus of crabs in the family Aethridae, containing seven extant species, plus some fossil species:
Speocarcinus is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing six extant species, one fossil species from the Late Miocene, one fossil species from the Eocene (Lutetian) and one fossil species from the Early Eocene (Ypresian):
Zosimus is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Oregonia is a genus of crabs, comprising two extant species and one fossil species: It is classified in the family Oregoniidae under the spider crab superfamily Majoidea.
