Nordic spider crab
| Nordic spider crab | ||||||||||||
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Nordic spider crabs fighting |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Hyas araneus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The Nordic spider crab ( Hyas araneus ), also known as the Atlantic spider crab , Zaikobbe or, above all in older literature, often simply referred to as the spider crab , is a type of triangular crab and is found in the northern Atlantic and Arctic Oceans .
features
The mostly gray-brown to reddish-brown back armor ( carapace ) of the species becomes 5–11 cm long and up to 8 cm wide. It has the shape of a rounded triangle that tapers towards the front and is sometimes described as pear-shaped. In contrast to the red spider crab ( Hyas coarctatus ), there is no lateral indentation in the carapace behind the eyes. The rostrum protrudes between the eyes and is split into two parts that touch at the tip. The legs and claws are more delicate than those of the beach crab, for example . Due to the long legs, the animals appear spider-like, which has contributed to their name. The animals often camouflage themselves with tufts of algae , polyps and sponges , which are attached to the small spines of the side armor with scissors. Because of its extensive rest periods and sluggish movements, the Nordic spider crab is often naturally overgrown with algae, polyps and barnacles .
distribution
The distribution area of the species extends from the northwest Atlantic off the coasts of North America across parts of the Arctic Ocean to the northeast Atlantic off the coasts of northern Europe .
The species is found north of the English Channel on the European coasts . It lives on the coasts of the British Isles , in the English Channel, in the North Sea , in the north-western part of the Baltic Sea (east about to Kiel Bay ) and on the coasts of Iceland , Norway , Finland and Russia ( Kola Peninsula , White Sea ). Even further north, the species is known from the coastal areas of Svalbard , Greenland and Severny Island .
In the Northwest Atlantic, the species lives in the coastal areas of the northeastern United States , predominantly off Rhode Island , Massachusetts , New Hampshire and Maine and along the Canadian coasts of New Brunswick , Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island , Newfoundland and Labrador and, more rarely, Quebec to the east Hudson Bay .
In 1986 two specimens were found near the South Shetland Islands in the Southern Ocean in Antarctica . This occurrence was due to human displacement. Fears that the species could endanger the native fauna as an invasive species could not be confirmed because the species has not been detected in the region since 1986.
habitat
The species lives in the benthal of the oceans and here mainly in the littoral and in the Neritic zone. It was found at depths of 0 to 402 m, but mostly remains above 50 m water depth. The intertidal zone is avoided. The species is not very picky about its habitat. It lives on rocky hard soils, but also on sandy soft soils. Here it can be found between boulders, stones and seaweeds, but also in open places.
Way of life
Since the species is very slow, it feeds on prey that is correspondingly less mobile. The main food is starfish , but various worms, sponges, bog animals and algae are also eaten. The northern spider crab can also live in peaceful coexistence with lobsters . The maximum age is more than 10 years. Among the most common epibionts (seated animals, s. Features) in the Barents Sea are the red algae Ptilota gunneri and dulse ( Palmaria palmata ) and the copepod Harpacticus uniremis and the tube-worm-build Placostegus tridentatus .
Taxonomy
The species was first described by Carl von Linné in 1758 under the name Cancer araneus . Further synonyms of the species are Cancer bufo Herbst 1790, Cancer pipa Herbst 1790 and Inachus araneus Fabricius 1798. The family Oregoniidae was split off from the family Majidae in more recent times and includes the four genera Chionoecetes , Hyas , Macroregonia and Oregonia . The Northern crab thus no longer belongs to the same family as those in the Mediterranean -based Great crab and Small crab .
literature
- Georg Quedens: Beach and Wadden Sea - animals and plants on the North and Baltic Seas - a biotope guide 6th revised edition. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Munich 1997, ISBN 978-3-405-15108-2, p. 64.
- Ursula Stichmann-Marny, Wilfried Stichmann, Erich Kretzschmar: The new cosmos animal and plant guide. With a special section: Europe's holiday areas 4th edition. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co., Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 978-3-440-08041-2 , p. 455.
Web links
- Nordic spider crab. In: Website of the Sylt Aquarium. Retrieved May 27, 2021 .
- Hyas araneus . In:WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marcos Tavares & Gustavo AS De Melo (2004) Discovery of the first known benthic invasive species in the Southern Ocean: the North Atlantic spider crab Hyas araneus found in the Antarctic Peninsula . Antarctic Science 16 (2): 129-131. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102004001877 .
- ↑ a b Huw J. Griffiths, Rowan J. Whittle, Stephen J. Roberts, Mark Belchier & Katrin Linse (2013) Antarctic Crabs: Invasion or Endurance? PLoS One 8 (7): e66981. doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0066981 .
- ↑ Alexander Dvoretsky (2011) Epibionts of the great spider crab, Hyas araneus (Linnaeus, 1758), in the Barents Sea. Polar Biology 35 (4). doi: 10.1007 / s00300-011-1087-x .
- ^ Hyas araneus (Linnaeus, 1758) in GBIF Secretariat (2021). GBIF backbone taxonomy. Checklist dataset [1] accessed via GBIF.org on May 27, 2021.