Swimming crabs

Swimming crabs
	Portunus pelagicus
Systematics
Class :	Higher crabs (Malacostraca)
Order :	Decapods (decapoda)
Subordination :	Pleocyemata
Partial order :	Crab (Brachyura)
Superfamily :	Portunoidea
Family :	Swimming crabs
Scientific name
	Portunidae
	Rafinesque , 1815

The swimming crabs (Portunidae) are a family of crabs .

features

Typical of swimming crabs is the fifth pair of legs, which have been converted into a swimming extremity, with a clearly flattened and extremely widened, leaf-shaped end member (dactylus). The other limbs of the leg can also be flattened, widened and shortened to different degrees depending on the type. The edges of the extremity also have long hair to increase the surface area. The animals swim by pushing the broad side of the water against the water when the leg reminiscent of a paddle is kicked back, while when suggested they swim the long edge.

Such a swimming leg has also developed convergently in other groups of crabs (for example, the pubic crabs ).

distribution

Swimming crabs, like most crabs, live in the ocean and are found worldwide. Some species also go into brackish and fresh water.

Blue crab ( Callinectes sapidus )

Genera

Arenaeus Dana , 1851
Callinectes Stimpson , 1860
- Blue crab ( Callinectes sapidus )
Charybdis De Haan , 1833
Coelocarcinus Edmondson , 1930
Cronius Stimpson , 1860
Euphylax Stimpson , 1860
Laleonectes Manning & Chace , 1990
Lissocarcinus Adams & White , 1848
Lupocyclus Adams & White , 1848
Podophthalmus Lamarck , 1801
Portunus Weber , 1795
- Great Pacific swimming crab ( Portunus pelagicus )
- Gazami crab ( Portunus trituberculatus )
Raymanninus Ng , 2000
Scylla De Haan , 1833
Thalamita Latreille , 1829
Thalamitoides A. Milne-Edwards , 1869

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.

literature

Füller, H., Gruner, H.-E., Hartwich, G., Kilias, R., Moritz M .: Urania Tierreich, Invertebrates 2 (Annelida to Chaetognatha) . Urania-Verlag, ISBN 3-332-00502-2
Alfred Kaestner (founder), Hans-Eckard Gruner (ed.): Textbook of special zoology, vol. 1: Invertebrates, part 4: Arthropoda (without Insecta) . Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, Stuttgart, New York 1993, ISBN 3-334-60404-7

Web links

Commons : Swimming Crabs - Collection of images, videos and audio files

[Grave-1] 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.