Species Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Cancer maenas Linnaeus, C. 1758. Cancer. pp. 625-634 in Linnaeus, C. Systema Naturae per Regna tria Naturae, secundem Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentis, Synonymis, Locis. Tom.1 Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii 824 pp. [627].

  Type data:

   Lectotype whereabouts unknown, Marstrand, north of Göteborg, Sweden.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Christiansen, M.E. 1969. Marine Invertebrates of Scandinavia. 2. Crustacea Decapoda Brachyura. Oslo : Universitetsforlaget 143 pp. [49] (lectotype designation based on description, but specimen presumed lost).
• Cancer marinus sulcatus Rumphius, G.E. 1705. D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer, behelzende eene beschryvinge van allerhande zoo weeke als harde schaalvisschen, te weeten raare Krabben, Kreeften, en diergelyke Zeedieren, als mede allerhande Hoorntjes en Schulpen, die men in d'Amboinsche Zee vindt : daar beneven zommige Mineraalen, Gesteenten, en soorten van Aarde, die in d'Amboinsche, en zommige omleggende Eilanden gevonden worden : Verdeelt in drie bocken, &c. Rumpf, Georg Eberhard, 1627–1702. Amsterdam Vol. 1. 340 pp. 60 pls. [pl. 6 fig. O] [pre-Linnaean name, thus unavailable].
• Monoculus taurus Slabber, M. 1778. Natuurkundige verlustigingen, behelzende microscopise waarnemingen van in- en uitlandse water- en land-dieren. [Publisher unknown] 166 pp. 18 pls. [35, 159 pl. 5 figs 1, 2 pl. 18 fig. 1].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, not determined.
• Cancer granarius Herbst, J.F.W. 1783. Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der Krabben und Krebse nebst einer Systematischen Beischreibung ihrer Verschieden Arten. Zurich : Joh. Casper Fuessly Vol. 1 Pts 2–5 pp. 87–182 pls 2–9. [3 volumes and an Atlas published from 1782–1804].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, ZMB (lost (not found by Sakai, K. 1999. J. F. W. Herbst-Collection of decapod Crustacea of the Berlin Zoological Museum, with remarks on certain species. Naturalists, Tokushima Biological Laboratory, Shikoku University 6: 1–45 pls 1–21)), not determined.
• Cancer viridis Herbst, J.F.W. 1783. Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der Krabben und Krebse nebst einer Systematischen Beischreibung ihrer Verschieden Arten. Zurich : Joh. Casper Fuessly Vol. 1 Pts 2–5 pp. 87–182 pls 2–9. [3 volumes and an Atlas published from 1782–1804].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, ZMB (lost (not found by Sakai, K. 1999. J. F. W. Herbst-Collection of decapod Crustacea of the Berlin Zoological Museum, with remarks on certain species. Naturalists, Tokushima Biological Laboratory, Shikoku University 6: 1–45 pls 1–21)), not determined.
• Cancer pygmaeus Fabricius, J.C. 1787. Mantissa Insectorum sistens eorum Species nuper detectas, adiectis Characteribus genericis, Differentiis specificis, Emendationibus, Observationibus. Hafniae : C.G. Proft Vol. 1 xx 382 pp..

  Type data:

   Status unknown, npt determined.
• Cancer rhomboidalis Montagu, G. 1804. VII. Description of several Marine Animals found on the South Coast of Devonshire. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London Zoology 7: 61-65 pls 6, 7 [65 pl. 6 fig. 1].

  Type data:

   Holotype (megalopa, presumed lost), south coast of Devonshire, England.
• Cancer granulatus Nicholls, G.E. 1943. The Phreatoicoidea. Part I. The Amphisopidae. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1942: 1-145 [61].

  Type data:

   Holotype (lost), east coast of the United States.
• Megalopa montagui Leach, W.E. 1817. Malacostraca Podophthalma Britanniae; or descriptions of the British species of Crabs, Lobsters, Prawns, and of other Malacostraca with pedunculated eyes ... Illustrated with coloured figures of all the species by James Sowerby, F.L.S. G.S. W.S. &c. Nos XIII–XVI. London : James Sowerby pls XVI, XVIII, XX, XXII, XXV, XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIV. [text accompanying pl. XVI] [unnecessary nom. nov. for Megalopa rhomboidalis (Montagu, 1804)].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, not determined.
• Portunus menoides Rafinesque-Schmaltz, C.S. 1817. Synopsis of four new genera and two new species of Crustacea found in the United States. American Monthly Magazine 2: 40-41.

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) (lost), New York; Long Island; New Jersey, USA.
• Portunus carcinoides Kinahan, J.R. 1857. On a Crangon new to science with notes of other nondescript Crustacea, and observations on the distribution of the Crustacea Podophthalmia of the eastern, or Dublin Marine District of Ireland. Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Dublin 2(1856–1857): 27-34.

  Type data:

   Status unknown, east coast of Ireland.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Manning, R.B. & Holthuis, L.B. 1981. West African Brachyuran Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology No. 306: i-xii, 1-379 figs 1-88, 2 appendices [75]
• Rathbun, M.J. 1930. The cancroid crabs of America of the families Euryalidae, Portunidae, Atelecyclidae, Cancridae and Xanthidae. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 152: i-xvi 1-609, text-figs 1-85 pls 1-230 [15]
• Adema, J.P.H.M. 1991. Krabben van Nederland en Belgie (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura). Leiden : National Natuurhistorisch Museum xii 244 pp. [133]

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Originally from European and north-west African coasts, North Sea and Baltic, now spread to southern Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Hawaii and the west coast of north America.

Introduced from north-western Atlantic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IMCRA

Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Tasmanian Shelf Province (36), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38)

Ecological Descriptors

Estuarine, mud flats, rocks, sand flats, seagrass, subtidal.

Extra Ecological Information

In rock crevices high on beach, on bay and estuarine mud and sand flats, among seagrass, burrowing predator of molluscs and fin-fish species, intertidal to 60 m depth.

 

General References

Crothers, J.H. 1966. The biology of the shore crab Carcinus maenus (L.) 1. The background — anatomy, growth and life-history. Field Studies 3: 109-124

Furlani, D.M. 1996. A Guide to the Introduced Marine Species in Australian Waters. Technical Report Number 5. Hobart : Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests, C.S.I.R.O. (unpaginated, loose-leaf) Vol. 5. (summary of Australian distributional records)

Holthuis, L.B. & Gottlieb, E. 1958. Alpheidae Brachyura. Bulletin No. 18. An annotated List of the Decapod Crustacea of the Mediterranean Coast of Israel, with an Appendix listing the Decapoda of the Eastern Mediterranean. Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel Sect. B: Zoology 7B(1–2): 1-126 figs 1-15 pls 1-3 [84]

Zeidler, W. 1978. Note on the occurrence of the European Shore Crab Carcinus maenas (Linn., 1758). South Australian Naturalist 153: 11-12