CRINCH! The Crab of the Day!

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Photo Credit: Yulyfish.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 01/31/2017: Palinurus mauritanicus, The Pink Spiny Lobster (The Rose Langostine in Europe) is a species of deep water spiny lobster found in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. This ‘clawless’ critter has a carapace with two brutal-looking rows of forward-directed spines. The peduncle, or the base segment of the antenna, is particularly stout. Living a relatively long time, (up to 25+ years!) P. mauritanicus is found on the seafloor at the edge of the continental shelf at depths deeper than 200 m. Though Pink Spinys scavenge dead muck, they’ll also lay into a meal of live mollusks, starfish, urchins, and any other crustaceans which can’t escape them!

Photo Credit: Viviers d’Audierne.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=107704
http://www.eol.org/pages/324107/overview

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Photo Credit: Doug Anderson.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/01/2017: Zenopontonia rex, known as the Emperor Shrimp, is a species of Indo-Pacific Caridean/family Palaemonidae shrimp. This amazing little guy lives commensally on a number of hosts, including the sea slug Hexabranchus. Z. rex, still widely known by its junior taxon: Periclimenes imperator, seems to be a rare case of possible ontogenetic host switching, living on sea cucumbers and, occasionally, on sea stars (echinoderms) as juveniles, and on nudibranch sea slugs (molluscs) as adults! With the regal coloration of this animal and its penchant for riding slug “mounts,” It’s easy to make the comparison to an Emperor, atop his steed!

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=871470
http://www.gbif.org/species/119786985

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Photo Credit: Hsi-Te Shih, 2013.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/03/2017: Atergatis integerrimus, or The Red Egg Crab is a fantastic reef dweller from Mauritius, Zanzibar, India, the Philippines, Hong kong, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore. Possessing an ovaloid, brilliantly red carapace and impressive claws- this family Xanthidae crab usually hides under larger rubble or in reef holes as it isn’t very fast-moving. Divers are generally discouraged from handling these crabs and they CERTAINLY shouldn’t be eaten as they contain a TON of paralytic shellfish poison!

Photo Credit: Paladin R. Liu.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=209060
http://eol.org/pages/2982968/overview

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Photo Credit: T. Mulochau.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/04/2017: Chaceon crosnieri, or Crosnier's Crab is a spine-sided family Geryonidae species of crab found ONLY around Madagascar, at the 400 m to 800 m depth zone. Crosnier's Crabs have a rather unique ‘thorny crown’ shape, and are very rarely seen in the wild. Named after crazy-ass crab collection curator Alain Crosnier, (say that 10 times fast!) this species was first catalogued by Raymond B. Manning (American carcinologist/alpha taxonomist) and Lipke Bijdeley Holthuis, (Dutch carcinologist) arguably, the two GREATEST modern carcinologists!

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=442696
http://www.eol.org/pages/318617/overview

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Photo Credit: Aaron Baldwin, 2007.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/04/2017: Discorsopagurus schmitti, or The Tube Worm Hermit Crab is a CRAZY North-Pacific (Alaska, Canada, and Washington to Japan) species of Superfamily Paguroidea/ Family Paguridae hermit that lives its life in the empty, fixed tubes built by the polychaete worm Sabellaria cementarium. This strange, sessile way of life is made possible by two factors:

First, this small hermit has an abdomen that is not coiled but is a straightened cylinder shape- perfect for fitting in old worm tubes.

Second, D. schmitti employs four different feeding techniques: antenna fanning, tube/body-trapping, using its claws to catch drifting particles, and scraping the surrounding sea material around its chosen tube.

In its natural habitat, this crab inhabits only empty, fixed tubes, though in its post-larval stages it prefers discarded gastropod shells. The behavior of megalopae and juveniles seems to testify to the shell-dwelling ancestry of D. schmitti.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=366310
http://eol.org/pages/45303604/overview
https://vimeo.com/106235370

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Photo Credit: Jiří Novák.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/06/2017: Porcellana platycheles, called The Broad-Clawed Porcelain Crab, is a small family Porcellanidae species, (no bigger than 15 millimeters!) in the Eastern North Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. This filter feeder, obviously named for its broad, flat, chelae, is typically not that great with other crustaceans in a given reef or aquarium. Sometimes called the “Hairy Broad Crab,” P. platycheles typically is grayish brown to dirty yellowish and white in color.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=107190
http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/130089- ... latycheles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrhYbXKypoI

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Photo Credit: G. & Ph. Poppe, 2013.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/13/2017: Platypodia granulose, or the “Curry Puff Crab,” more officially called the Granulated Flatfoot Crab or the Crested Reef Crab is a yellowish/orange-ish species of family Xanthidae crab, found on the East Coast of Africa, Madagascar, Red Sea, India, Maldives, Samoa, Palau, Australia, New Caledonia, China, Tahiti, Hawaii and Japan. This Nipper is thickly covered with granules, giving it the appearance of a ‘fried curry-filled won ton.’ Only its eyes and claw tips (being red) belie its sand-colored camouflage scheme.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=209073
http://eol.org/pages/318640/overview
http://species-identification.org/speci ... an&id=1266

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Photo Credit: Michael Marmach.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/14/2017: Notomithrax ursus, known as The Hairy Seaweed Crab, is a family Majidae spider crab, found ONLY in Australia and New Zealand. Though primarily agaeovores, these wooly monsters will also eat small gastropods, isopods, amphipods, and decapods, bryozoans, polychaetes, sponges, ostracods, nemerteans, copepods, and bivalves; in other words, LOTSA tiny plants and animals! N. ursus, also called “Seaweed Bears,”camouflage their body by attaching pieces of seaweed and algae to the curved setae that cover their body.

The types of algae most preferred as masking material were branched algae such as Halopteris spicigera and Corallina officinalis.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=442046
http://naturewatch.org.nz/taxa/410681-Notomithrax-ursus

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Photo Credit: Radim Gabriš.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/15/2017: Episesarma mederi, called The Thai Vinegar Crab is a thick little Indo-Pacific family Sesarmidae species of mangrove/mudflat terrestrial crab. Thai Vinegars primarily feed on leaves, and create burrows in the mud adjacent to tree roots. This aerates the landscape, and removes a lot of potentially acidic biomass from the environment- keeping it from becoming TOO brackish. When the water level rises too quickly- these crabs can very easily climb the same mangroves they live under!

Thai Vinegar Crabs, like other Sesarmine crabs, are known to be consumed as food in several cultures- often preserved in black vinegar and salt; the perfect topping for a Thai papaya salad!

http://taxo4254.wikispaces.com/Episesarma+singaporense
http://eol.org/pages/12020101/overview

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Photo Credit: Brian Mayes.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/16/2017: Lissoporcellana quadrilobata, or The Four-Lobed Porcelain Crab, is a beautifully pink/purple species of reef-dwelling family Porcellanidae crab found mainly in Madagascar and The New Caledonian Exclusive Economic Zone. This bright filter feeder lives manly on long swaying corals including Chain Corals, Sea Pens, and Gorgonians. Called ‘Four-Leaf Smooth Crabs’ (四葉光滑瓷蟹) in Japanese, these crustaceans frequently fall victim to Aporobopyrus dollfusi- a bophyrid isopod parasite.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=410106
http://www.eol.org/pages/6874503/overview

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Photo Credit: Jonathan Vera Caripe.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/18/2017: Pinnixa floridana, or The Florida Pea Crab is another one of those gross parasitic family Pinnotheridae 'pea crabs' found in The Gulf of Mexico and most notably around Florida! These uninvited guests are frequently found in the breathing and feeding mantles of Key-dwelling Florida shellfish, though- in a slightly less damaging twist, they have been found inside the husk tubes of the Polychaete worm ‘Chaetopterus’ and the Lugworm, Arenicola cristata.
polychaete worm Chaetopterus.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=422160
http://www.eol.org/pages/1036930/overview

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Photo Credit: J. Poupin.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/19/2017: Platyactaea setigera, or The Bristled Rubble Crab is lumpy crapace’d species of BRIGHT RED family Xanthidae crab found in The Gulf of Mexico through Central America! This Western Atlantic snapper ekes out a living in Epibiotic fashion: ie; it lives on the surface of
molluscan and other shells, not necessarily hurting them, but definitely jacking meals from them. More of a social parasite really! When shoals of chump-ass shellfish aren’t available, OR if the crab decides for whatever reason to leave, it can be found among reef rubble, at the 1-65 meter zone.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=422142
http://www.eol.org/pages/312046/overview

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Photo Credit: Southeastern Regional Taxonomic Center. (SERTC)

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/20/2017: Eurytium limosum, or The Broadback Mud Crab is a terrestrial species of intertidal mangrove crab, found in The Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Territories, and Continental US- namely Puerto Rico. Belonging to a genus with only four species, this family Panopeidae crab is generally found living in the roots of the Red Mangrove. (Rhizophora mangle) Although its diet includes some plant material, E. limosum is primarily predatory and consumes other crabs, polychaetes, ostracods, bivalves, and snails.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=422077
http://www.eol.org/pages/128521/overview

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Photo Credit: Gigazine

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/21/2017: On Shigeru Mizuki Road, (named for Japan’s most beloved manga author and historian) there are 133 bronze statues of characters from his long-running story “GeGeGe no Kitaro” (as well as a few other yokai, or Japanese folklore creatures, both evil and friendly) in the town of Skaiminato, a small crab fishing port in Tottori Prefecture.

One of these character statues is of “Kani Bouzu,” a CRAB PRIEST! This gigantic crab is as big as two tatami mats and lives disguised as a priest at a temple in Kai domain, present Yamanashi Prefecture. People were petrified of being jacked by Kani Bouzu as he was prone to eating any other visiting priests one after another. Eventually in a sphinx-like game of riddles, a crafty Nomadic Monk defeats Kani Bouzu causing him to commit suicide or flee or something. Later on, a pond behind the temple is drained, and the bones of everyone killed by Crab Priest were found. GROSS!

Shigeru Mizuki may have based this character on an old legend in a similar vein, the “Kani-Oni, or DEMON CRAB,” or the Hekigani (ヘイケガニ) or "Samurai Ghost Crabs."(also an actual crab, Heikeopsis japonica!)

http://kanazawa-worldheritageshirakawag ... ort/?p=576
http://en.gigazine.net/news/20081230_youkai_bronze/
http://www.japanpowered.com/folklore-an ... murai-crab
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigeru_Mizuki
http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/2015/10/ ... sters.html

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Photo Credit: Ondřej Radosta

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/22/2017: Carcinoplax confragosa, or The Philippine Rough Crab is family Goneplacidae species found in Indo-Pacific waters, primarily the Philippines. Possessing a ball-shaped, granulate carapace covered with long, thin, soft setae, C. confragosa is a rather capable omnivore- capable of jacking living or dead meals of opportunity with its long, black-tinted claws. The Philippine Rough Crab was first studied and catalogued by Crabstar Carcinologist Mary J. Rathbun, aboard the Steamer Albatross during its 1907 – 1910 Philippine expeditions.

Fun Fact: “confragosa” means rough and rugged and in this case, and refers to the coarsely wrinkled and bumpy upper surface of C. confragosa’s carapace.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=440940
http://www.eol.org/pages/4258911/overview

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Photo Credit: J. Poupin

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/24/2017: Portunus anceps, known as The Delicate Swimming Crab is a rather uncommon family Portunidae species found in the Western Atlantic, especially around smaller tropical islands. (Carribean!) Named for it s small, sight frame, this semi-predatory crab was first catalogued by crab world rockstar, Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure- a Swiss mineralogist and entomologist, specializing in taxonomy who co-founded the Geographical Society of Geneva in 1858.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=241114
https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/ ... 98722#null

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Photo Credit: Gero Dill.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/25/2017: Chirostylus sandyi, or The Spider Squat Lobster is a family Chirostylidae “Anomuran Crab” (false crabs) found in the Philippine Sea. This somewhat recent rediscovery (first described in 2009 by Baba) has a tiny carapace with spider-like long legs, colored brick red with yellow lines, and complimented by white spots. C. sandyi lives on deep-water corals and rocky reefs at the 15-40 meter depth range. Feeding primarily on zooplankton, this odd-looking critter, as well as hermit crabs and standard squat lobsters, are considered more distant cousins of “Brachyuran” or true crabs.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=563603
http://www.whatsthatfish.com/fish/spide ... bster/1762

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Photo Credit: Colin Mclay.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/26/2017: Cryptodromia bullifera, or The Hidden Sponge Crab is an Alcock-catalogued species of family Dromiidae/Subfamily Dromiinae crab from Eritrea, Madagascar, Mozambique, The Red Sea, The Seychelles, and The New Caledonian Exclusive Economic Zone. This species has a number of synonyms though can be identified by its smooth carapace and pearl-like tubercle in the middle of the “exposed surface of the merus of the external maxillipeds.”
Living in the rocky bottoms at around 100 meters in depth, C. bullifera will carry its of sponge and rubble as a means of camouflage.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=209462
http://species-identification.org/speci ... schrijving

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Photo Credit: Arthur Anker.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/27/2017: Daira americana, or The American Pebble Crab is a fantastic family Dairidae species of pebble crab, ranging from the Gulf of California to Ecuador and the and Pacific Ocean Islands including the Galapagos Islands. Living in commensal fashion on Pocillopora elegans corals, this Stimson catalogued crab is SUPER TOXIC (DON’T EAT IT!) due to their penchant for chowing down on toxin-rich shellfish!

Again, DON’T EAT IT!

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=440414
http://darwinfoundation.org/datazone/checklists/8492/

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Photo Credit: Chien-Hui Yang.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/28/2017: CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 02/27/2017: Polyonyx sinensis, The Taiwan Finger Crab is a family Porcellanidae ‘Multi-Finger’ or inverted chelae species of Asiatic porcelain crab. Living in Japan, Taiwan, China, and Thailand, this ‘well-armed’ crab has a distinct colored shell, (pale-bluish gray and tan) and can further be identified by its irregular covering of spines and setae.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=410143
http://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/bismal/e/view/9043240

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Photo Credit: Arthur Anker.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 03/01/2017: Nursia plicata, The Persian Purse Crab, is a family Leucosiidae Tropical Indo-West Pacific species known mainly for its presence in Iranian Persian Gulf waters. This subtidal leucosiid has an angular, spined “maple leaf” shaped body with large, apparent chelipeds, roughly about 1 1/4 times the length of its carapace. These, and related leucosiid crabs constitute one of the commonest but least known brachyuran taxa in the Indo-West Pacific region. Though studied by generations of taxonomists starting with Bell (1855), they largely remain a source of systematic and nomenclatural confusion.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=447893
http://www.species-identification.org/s ... pan&id=764

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Photo Credit: Louis Lopez Silva.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 03/02/2017: Minuca (formerly Uca) marguerita, or The Olmec Fiddler is a mud-dwelling species of semi-terrestrial family Ocypodidae crab found in the West Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and the greater Mexico coasts. (La Pesca, Tamaulipas to Rio San Pedro, and Campeche.) Frequently confused with Uca virens, Uca burgersi Holthuis, or Uca speciosa; this rather indistinct crab requires habitual expert observation to discern it from its close cousins. As is the case with other fiddlers, M. marguerite males typically have an enlarged right claw, used for mate attraction.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=955265
http://www.fiddlercrab.info/u_marguerita.html

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Photo Credit: Y. Buske, 2015.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 03/03/2017: Lithadia cadaverosa, or The Carinate Clutch Crab is a Western Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico species of family Leucosiidae crab, found scuttling through the sandy soft with granular surface, and several ridiculous blunted spines, Carinate Clutchers additionally have a wide range of color and surface-specific morphological variability. On the whole though, this species is rather poorly known!

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=421933
http://www.eol.org/pages/1039840/overview

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Photo Credit: John Turnbull.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 03/04/2017: Charybdis natator, or The Ridged Swimming Crab, (ワタリイシガニ in Japanese) is an Indo-West Pacific/African family Portunidae swimmer, aptly named for the distinctive ridges on the dorsal side. This Orange-Red, granule covered crab has large chelipeds covered in bands of spines, tubercles, and sometimes barnacles! Although this edible crab is trawled, it is not a major commercially-fished species. No crab-savvy foodie would refuse a cooked C. natator.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... &id=208817
http://species-identification.org/speci ... schrijving

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Photo Credit: David Khodzhamiryan.

CRINCH! #CrabOfTheDay for 03/05/2017: The Spanish Freshwater Crab, or Potamon ibericum is a Eurasian species of semi-terrestrial crab found adjacent to The Mediterranean Sea, Greece, both sides of the Black and Caspian Seas, Southern France, and Parts of Eastern Europe and Russia. Fossil examples, labeled "Potamon antiquum" have been found in Pleistocene age sediments in northern Hungary. Also called the Iberian Freshwater Crab, The Crimean Freshwater Crab, and The Cagne River Crab, this species feeds on land, but returns regularly to the water, and can survive short periods of drought in burrows and under stones.

Classified as ‘near threatened’ on the IUCN Red List, as "it is possible that populations of P. ibericum in parts of its range might be in danger of extirpation in the future, especially those on islands or near centers of human population on the mainland"

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... children=1
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/134681/0
http://eol.org/pages/4266951/overview