Brown box crab explained

The brown box crab (Echidnocerus foraminatus) is a king crab that lives from Prince William Sound, Alaska to San Diego, California,^[1] at depths of 0-.^[2] It reaches a carapace length of and feeds on bivalves and detritus. The box crab gets its name from a pair of round tunnel-like openings that form between the claws and adjacent legs when the animal folds its limbs up against its body.^[3] Both claws, and their adjacent legs, have matching half-circle notches in them that line up to create a circle-shaped opening when the limbs are tightly pulled against one another.^[3] This tubular round opening is called a foramen. The crab often lies buried in the sediment, and the two foramens in the chelipeds allow water into the gill chamber for respiration.^[1] The gill chamber is also sometimes used by the commensal fish Careproctus to hold its eggs.^[4]

Fisheries

The brown box crab has been fished in California since at least 1984.^[5] Take was minor and largely incidental until the mid 2010s, when landings by mass increased five-fold in 2017 relative to 2016^[6] and have remained above 45,000 lbs every year since. In 2019, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife launched an experimental fishery for brown box crabs.

External links

• • 3D model at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Notes and References

1. Web site: Brown box crab, Lopholithodes formaminatus [sic] . Alaska Fisheries Science Center . October 25, 2011.
2. Chevaldonné. Pierre. Olu. Karine. 1996. Robbins. C. Brian. Occurrence of anomuran crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) in hydrothermal vent and cold-seep communities: a review. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 109. 2. 286–298. the Biodiversity Heritage Library. PDF
3. Web site: Crab identification and soft-shell crab. 2022-02-12. Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. en.
4. Peden. Alex E.. Corbett. Cathryn A.. 1973. Commensalism between a liparid fish, Careproctus sp., and the lithodid box crab, Lopholithodes foraminatus. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 51. 5. 555–556. 10.1139/z73-081.
5. Web site: MFDE: Landings By Value and Participation . California Department of Fish and Wildlife . 12 June 2024.
6. Stroud . Ashley . Culver . Carolynn S. . Page . Henry M. . Size at maturity, reproductive cycle, and fecundity of the southern California brown box crab Lopholithodes foraminatus and implications for developing a new targeted fishery . Marine and Coastal Fisheries . June 2024 . 16 . 3 . 10.1002/mcf2.10291 . 12 June 2024. free .