Corystes cassivelaunus, the masked crab, helmet crab or sand crab,[1] is a burrowing crab of the North Atlantic and North Sea from Portugal to Norway, which also occurs in the Mediterranean Sea.[2] It may grow up to 4cm (02inches) long (carapace length).[1] The name "masked crab" derives from the patterns on the carapace which resemble a human face (a case of pareidolia), in a similar manner to heikegani.[3] It is the only species in the genus Corystes.[4]
C. cassivelaunus lives buried in sandy substrates, where it feeds on the infaunal invertebrates such as polychaete worms and bivalve molluscs.[1] It uses its two antennae to form a breathing tube that allows oxygenated water down into the substrate.[5] [6] The chelipeds of males are much longer than the body, while those of females are only about as long as the carapace.[7]
. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary . masked crab . 1913 . Webster's Dictionary . 2006-11-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110714123320/http://1913.mshaffer.com/d/search/_words.word,masked . 2011-07-14 . dead .