Stone and King Crabs

Stone and King Crabs
	Paralithodes californiensis , seen from the right rear
Systematics
Class :	Higher crabs (Malacostraca)
Order :	Decapods (decapoda)
Subordination :	Pleocyemata
Partial order :	Crayfish (anomura)
Superfamily :	Hermit Crabs (Paguroidea)
Family :	Stone and King Crabs
Scientific name
	Lithodidae
	Samouelle , 1819

Neolithodes grimaldii , seen from behind

The stone and king crab (Lithodidae) are a family crab similar anomura (Anomura). As with the crabs, their abdomen is folded under their front bodies. They only have four pairs of visible legs, however. The first one carries scissors. The fifth pair of legs is hidden in the gill cavity, is shortened and has the function of a cleaning brush. The carapace is triangular or oval in shape and strongly calcified. Stone and king crabs likely descended from hermit crab-like ancestors. The abdomen of the females is still asymmetrical, as was that of their ancestors in adaptation to the protection of snail shells.

distribution

They live mainly in the cold seas, the main area of distribution is the northern Pacific . But there are also stone and king crabs on the American west coast to Patagonia , in the northern Atlantic and in the Southern Ocean . Species in warmer seas live at great depths, on cold coasts they inhabit the shallower water.

Many large species such as the Kamchatka king crab ( Paralithodes camtschaticus ) are fished for their palatability.

Genera

The stone and king crab family comprises around 100 species in the following 10 genera:

Cryptolithodes Brandt , 1848
Glyptolithodes Faxon , 1895
Lithodes Latreille , 1806
Lopholithodes Brandt , 1848
Neolithodes A. Milne-Edwards and Bouvier , 1894
Paralithodes Brandt , 1848
Paralomis White , 1856
Phyllolithodes Brandt , 1848
Rhinolithodes Brandt , 1848
Sculptolithodes Makarov , 1934

literature

H. Füller, H.-E. Gruner, G. Hartwich, R. Kilias, M. Moritz: Urania Tierreich, Invertebrates 2 (Annelida to Chaetognatha) . Urania-Verlag, Leipzig 1994, ISBN 3-332-00502-2 .

Individual evidence

↑ Jonas Keiler, Stefan Richter, Christian S. Wirkner: Evolutionary morphology of the hemolymph vascular system in hermit and king crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomala) . In: Journal of Morphology . tape 274 , 2013, p. 759-778 , doi : 10.1002 / jmor.20133 .
↑ Jonas Keiler, Stefan Richter, Christian S. Wirkner: The anatomy of the king crab Hapalogaster mertensii Brandt, 1850 (Anomura: Paguroidea: Hapalogastridae) - new insights into the evolutionary transformation of hermit crabs into king crabs . In: Contributions to Zoology . tape 84 , 2015, p. 149-165 ( contributionstozoology.nl ).
↑ PA McLaughlin, T. Komai, R. Lemaitre, DL Rahayu: Annotated checklist of anomuran decapod crustaceans of the world (exclusive of the Kiwaoidea and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea) Part I - Lithodoidea, Lomisoidea and Paguroidea . In: The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology . Supplement No. 23, 2010, p. 5–107 ( PDF, 4.7 MB [accessed February 4, 2013]).

Web links

Commons : Stone and King Crabs (Lithodidae) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

[Keileretal2013-1] Jonas Keiler, Stefan Richter, Christian S. Wirkner: Evolutionary morphology of the hemolymph vascular system in hermit and king crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomala) . In: Journal of Morphology . tape 274 , 2013, p. 759-778 , doi : 10.1002 / jmor.20133 .

[Keileretal2015-2] Jonas Keiler, Stefan Richter, Christian S. Wirkner: The anatomy of the king crab Hapalogaster mertensii Brandt, 1850 (Anomura: Paguroidea: Hapalogastridae) - new insights into the evolutionary transformation of hermit crabs into king crabs . In: Contributions to Zoology . tape 84 , 2015, p. 149-165 ( contributionstozoology.nl ).

[McLaughlin2010-3] PA McLaughlin, T. Komai, R. Lemaitre, DL Rahayu: Annotated checklist of anomuran decapod crustaceans of the world (exclusive of the Kiwaoidea and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea) Part I - Lithodoidea, Lomisoidea and Paguroidea . In: The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology . Supplement No. 23, 2010, p. 5–107 ( PDF, 4.7 MB [accessed February 4, 2013]).