Callinectes marginatus explained

Callinectes marginatus, commonly known as the sharptooth swimcrab or marbled swimcrab, is a species of swimming crab in the family Portunidae.

Description

Its carapace bears nine spines behind each eye, the last of which is around twice the length of the previous one, making the whole carapace around wide.[1]

Distribution and ecology

Although the name Callinectes marginatus was used by Mary J. Rathbun and others to also cover animals now referred to the species C. larvatus and C. diacanthus, C. marginatus is now used only for a species found from the Cape Verde Islands and Nouadhibou, Mauritania to Angola.[2]

C. marginatus appears to be entirely marine, unlike some of its congeners, although there are records from the estuaries of the Congo River and the Hwini River.[2] The crabs dig holes around 30cm (10inches) wide in mudflats.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Wolfgang Schneider . 1990 . Field Guide to the Commercial Marine Resources of the Gulf of Guinea . . Portunidae: Swimming Crabs . 186–188 . ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/008/t0438e/t0438e43.pdf . PDF.
  2. . West African Brachyuran Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) . . 1981 . 306 . 1–379 . 10.5479/si.00810282.306.
  3. B. B. P. A. van der Laan & Wim J. Wolff . 2006 . Circular pools in the seagrass beds of the Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania, and their possible origin . . 84 . 2 . 93–100 . 10.1016/j.aquabot.2005.07.009 . 2010-10-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110724164841/http://www.marbee.fmns.rug.nl/pdf/marbee/2006-Laan-AqBot.pdf . 2011-07-24 . dead .