Scorpion spider crab
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Order:
Decapoda
Infraorder:
Brachyura
Family:
Inachidae
Genus:
Inachus
Species:
I. dorsettensis
Binomial name
Inachus dorsettensis
(Pennant, 1777)

Inachus dorsettensis, commonly known as the scorpion spider crab, is a species of crab generally found on loose substrates (stony bottoms to mud) from 6 metres (20 ft) depth down to about 100 m (330 ft).[1]

Description

They are usually seen covered with sponge which they apply themselves. The carapace of a fully grown male is roughly 30 millimetres (1.2 in) long and slightly narrower than it is long.[1][2]

I. dorsettensis resembles the closely related species Inachus phalangium, but has more prominent spines on the carapace.[1] They molt, with the intermolting period being shorter the warmer the water they reside in is.[3]

Distribution

Scorpion spider crab is found along the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean from Norway to South Africa, and also in the Mediterranean Sea.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 P. J. Hayward; M. J. Isaac; P. Makings; J. Moyse; E. Naylor & G. Smaldon (1995). "Crustaceans". In P. J. Hayward & John Stanley Ryland (eds.). Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-west Europe. Oxford University Press. pp. 289–461. ISBN 978-0-19-854055-7.
  2. ↑ "When is the stone crab season?". Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  3. ↑ R.G. Hartnoll; A.D. Bryant (2001). Growth to maturity of juveniles of the spider crabs Hyas coarctatus Leach and Inachus dorsettensis. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.
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