Carcinus
| Carcinus | ||||||||||||
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Common beach crab ( Carcinus maenas ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Carcinus | ||||||||||||
| Leach , 1814 |
Carcinus is a genus of crabs within the Carcinidae family. It contains the two species Carcinus maenas ( common beach crab ) and Carcinus aestuarii (Mediterranean beach crab), which, however, hardly differ from each other, especially in their range, appearance and way of life. Because they are intercrossable and produce reproductive offspring, some taxonomists regard them as subspecies rather thantrue species.
Differences between C. maenas and C. aestuarii
The most reliable way to distinguish between the two species is the shape of the extremities (pleopods) that have been transformed into male reproductive organs and that are normally hidden under the plate-shaped abdomen (pleon). In C. maenas these are arched in sexually mature males, whereas in C. aestuarii they are rather straight and parallel to each other. It should be noted here that the shape of the pleopods can change when infected by the Sacculina parasite .
In addition, Carcinus aestuarii does not reach the size of Carcinus maenas , which, however, can hardly be used to differentiate the species, since individuals of the common beach crab usually remain smaller.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sammy De Grave, N. Dean Pentcheff, Shane T. Ahyong et al. : A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans . In: Raffles Bulletin of Zoology . Suppl. 21, 2009, pp. 1-109.
- ↑ a b c S. B. Yamada & L. Hauck: Field identification of the European green crab species: Carcinus maenas and Carcinus aestuarii . In: Journal of Shellfish Research . 20, No. 3, 2001, pp. 905-9. “No” ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
