king crab

Information about king crab

The term king crab is also sometimes used for the horseshoe crab Limulus.
King crabs
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Paralithodes californiensis

Paralithodes californiensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Subphylum:Crustacea
Class:Malacostraca
Order:Decapoda
Infraorder:Anomura
Superfamily:Paguroidea
Family:Lithodidae
Samouelle, 1819
Genera [1]


Acantholithodes
Cryptolithodes
Dermaturus
Glyptolithodes
Hapalogaster
Lithodes
Lopholithodes
Neolithodes
Oedignathus
Paralithodes
Paralomis
Phyllolithodes
Placetron
Rhinolithodes


King crabs, also called stone crabs, are a family of crab-like decapod crustaceans chiefly found in cold seas. Their large size means that many species are widely caught and sold as food.

King crabs are generally believed to be derived from hermit crab ancestors, which may explain the asymmetry still found in the adult forms. Although some doubt still exists about this theory, king crabs are the most widely quoted example of carcinisation among the Decapoda. The evidence for this explanation comes from the asymmetry of the king crab's abdomen, which is thought to reflect the asymmetry of hermit crabs, which must fit into a spiral shell.

Species

Around 40 species are known, in 14 genera [2]:
  • Acantholithodes Holmes, 1895
  • Acantholithodes hispidus (Stimpson, 1860)
  • Cryptolithodes Brandt, 1848
  • Cryptolithodes brevifrons
  • Cryptolithodes sitchensis Brandt, 1853 — umbrella crab
  • Cryptolithodes typicus Brandt, 1848 — butterfly crab
  • Dermaturus Brandt, 1850
  • Dermaturus mandtii Brandt, 1850 — wrinkled crab
  • Glyptolithodes Faxon, 1895
  • Glyptolithodes cristatipes (Faxon, 1893)
  • Hapalogaster Brandt, 1850
  • Hapalogaster cavicauda Stimpson, 1859
  • Hapalogaster grebnitzkii Schalfeew, 1892
  • Hapalogaster mertensii Brandt, 1850
  • Lithodes Latreille, 1806
  • Lithodes aequispinus J. E. Benedict, 1895 — golden king crab
  • Lithodes agassizii
  • Lithodes couesi J. E. Benedict, 1895 — scarlet king crab
  • Lithodes longispina Sakai, 1971
  • Lithodes maja (Linnaeus, 1758) — Norway king crab
  • Lithodes nintokuae Sakai, 1976
  • Lopholithodes Brandt, 1848
  • Lopholithodes foraminatus (Stimpson, 1859) — brown box crab
  • Lopholithodes mandtii Brandt, 1848 — Puget Sound king crab
  • Neolithodes A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1894
  • Neolithodes agassizii (S. I. Smith, 1882)
  • Neolithodes diomedeae (J. E. Benedict, 1895)
  • Neolithodes grimaldii (A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1894)
  • Oedignathus Benedict, 1895
  • Oedignathus inermis (Stimpson, 1860) — granular claw crab
  • Paralithodes Brandt, 1848
  • Paralithodes brevipes (H. Milne Edwards & Lucas, 1841)
  • Paralithodes californiensis (J. E. Benedict, 1895) — California king crab
  • Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815) — red king crab
  • Paralithodes platypus Brandt, 1850 — blue king crab
  • Paralithodes rathbuni (J. E. Benedict, 1895)
  • Paralomis White, 1856
  • Paralomis bouvieri Hansen, 1908
  • Paralomis cubensis Chace, 1939
  • Paralomis haigae Eldredge, 1976
  • Paralomis longipes Faxon, 1893
  • Paralomis manningi A. B. Williams, C. R. Smith & Baco, 2000
  • Paralomis multispina (J. E. Benedict, 1895)
  • Paralomis pacifica Sakai, 1978
  • Paralomis seagranti Eldredge, 1976
  • Paralomis verrilli (J. E. Benedict, 1895)
  • Phyllolithodes Brandt, 1848
  • Phyllolithodes papillosus Brandt, 1848 — flatspine triangle crab, heart crab
  • Placetron Schalfeew, 1892
  • Placetron wosnessenskii Schalfeew, 1892 — scaled crab
  • Rhinolithodes Brandt, 1848
  • Rhinolithodes wosnessenskii Brandt, 1848 — rhinoceros crab

Glyptolithodes

Main article: Glyptolithodes
Glyptolithodes is found chiefly in the Southern Hemisphere, but extending as far north as California, although all its closest relatives live in the Northern Hemisphere. Its single species, G. cristatipes was originally placed in the genus Rhinolithodes.

Lithodes

Lithodes aequispinus

The golden king crab, Lithodes aequispinus, is caught in the Aleutian Chain off the coast of Alaska. The golden king crab is significantly smaller than the red and blue king crabs, averaging 5–8 lb (2–4 kg) [3], but tastes similar to the red and blue king crabs although actually sweeter. They are, however, considerably cheaper due to their appearance and size.

Significant populations occur in pockets in the waters off the Pribilof and Shumagin Islands, Shelikof Strait, Prince William Sound and at least as far south as lower Chatham Strait in the south-east, where a regular commercial fishery occurs annually.It should be noted they occur in deeper water than the red king crab, often in depths exceeding 300 fathoms.

Lithodes couesi

The scarlet king crab, Lithodes couesi, is not often fished for since it is not sold commercially. This is due to the small size and lack of population to allow a commercial harvest.

Lithodes maja

Main article: Lithodes maja
Lithodes maja occurs in the North Atlantic, including Northern Europe and Canada's east coast. It is not abundant enough to support commercial fishery, and is becoming rare in some areas.

Oedignathus

Main article: Oedignathus
Oedignathus inermis, the only species in the genus Oedignathus, is found on the west coast of North America and separately around the coasts of Japan. Its claws and walking legs are covered in numerous tubercles rather than setae or spines, which distinguishes it from other genera.

Paralithodes

Paralithodes camtschaticus

Main article: Paralithodes camtschaticus
The red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus, is a very large species, sometimes reaching a carapace width of 11 in (28 cm) and a leg span of 6 ft (1.8 m). It is found around the Aleutian Islands and was intentionally introduced to European Arctic waters, where it is now becoming a pest.

Paralithodes platypus

The blue king crab, Paralithodes platypus, lives near St. Matthew Island and the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, and is the largest of all the king crabs, sometimes exceeding 18 lb (8 kg) in weight [4]. The blue king crab is often sold as the coveted red king crab because it resembles and tastes similar to red king crab when cooked. Both the St. Matthew and Pribilof blue king crab stocks are classified as overfished and no longer support commercial fisheries.

See also

References

Limulus

Species: L. polyphemus

Binomial name
Limulus polyphemus
Linnaeus, 1758

The horseshoe crab, horsefoot, king crab
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Arthropoda
Latreille, 1829

Subphyla and Classes
  • Subphylum Trilobitomorpha
  • Trilobita - trilobites (extinct)
  • Subphylum Chelicerata

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crustaceans (Crustacea) are a large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species [1], and are usually treated as a subphylum [2].
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Malacostraca
Latreille, 1802

Subclasses

Eumalacostraca
Hoplocarida
Phyllocarida
See text for orders.

The Malacostraca (Greek: "soft shell") are the largest subgroup of crustaceans and include most of the animals that non-experts
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Decapoda
Latreille, 1802

Suborders

Dendrobranchiata
Pleocyemata
See text for superfamilies.

The decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish,
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Anomura
MacLeay, 1838

Superfamilies
  • Galatheoidea
  • Hippoidea
  • Lomisoidea
  • Paguroidea
“Anomala” redirects here. For other uses, see Anomala (disambiguation).

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George Samouelle (1790–1846) was a curator in the British Museum (Natural History). He was primarily interested in Lepidoptera but also wrote A nomenclature of British Entomology, or a catalogue of above 4000 species of the Classes Crustacea, Myriapoda, Spiders, Mites
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Glyptolithodes
Faxon, 1895 [1]

Species: G. cristatipes

Binomial name
Glyptolithodes cristatipes
(Faxon, 1893) [2]
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Lopholithodes
Brandt, 1848 [1]

Species
Lopholithodes foraminatus
Lopholithodes mandtii

Lopholithodes is a genus of king crab.
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Oedignathus
Benedict, 1895 [1]

Species: O. inermis

Binomial name
Oedignathus inermis
(Stimpson, 1860) [2]
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Rhinolithodes

Species: R. wosnessenskii

Binomial name
Rhinolithodes wosnessenskii
Brandt, 1848 [1]


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Decapoda
Latreille, 1802

Suborders

Dendrobranchiata
Pleocyemata
See text for superfamilies.

The decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish,
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crustaceans (Crustacea) are a large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species [1], and are usually treated as a subphylum [2].
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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Food is any substance, usually composed primarily of carbohydrates, fats, water and/or proteins, that can be eaten or drunk by an animal or human being for nutrition or pleasure.
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An ancestor is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, and so on).

Two individuals have a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other, or if they share a common ancestor.
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Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, a symmetry.

Asymmetry in organisms

Due to how cells divide in organisms, asymmetry in organisms is fairly usual in at least one dimension, with biological symmetry also being common in at least one dimension.
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The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion.

In common usage, people often use the word theory to signify a conjecture, an opinion, or a speculation.
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Carcinisation (or carcinization) is a hypothesised process whereby a crustacean evolves into a crab-like form from a non-crab-like form. The term was introduced by L. A. Borradaile, who described it as "one of the many attempts of Nature to evolve a crab".
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Decapoda
Latreille, 1802

Suborders

Dendrobranchiata
Pleocyemata
See text for superfamilies.

The decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish,
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To comply with Wikipedia's this section of the article needs a complete rewrite.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page and read the layout guide to make sure the section will be inclusive of all essential details. This article has been tagged since September 2007.
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shell is a hard, rigid outer layer, which has evolved in a very wide variety of different animals, including mollusks, sea urchins, crustaceans, turtles and tortoises, armadillos, etc.
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Glyptolithodes
Faxon, 1895 [1]

Species: G. cristatipes

Binomial name
Glyptolithodes cristatipes
(Faxon, 1893) [2]
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L. maja

Binomial name
Lithodes maja
Linnaeus, 1758 [1]

Synonyms
Lithodes arctica Latreille, 1806 [1]

Lithodes maja
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Lopholithodes
Brandt, 1848 [1]

Species
Lopholithodes foraminatus
Lopholithodes mandtii

Lopholithodes is a genus of king crab.
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L. foraminatus

Binomial name
Lopholithodes foraminatus
(Stimpson, 1859)

The brown box crab, Lopholithodes foraminatus
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