Carcinus maenas   (Linnaeus, 1758)

Green crab

Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Carcinus maenas  AquaMaps  Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Carcinus maenas

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Malacostraca | Decapoda | Carcinidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Benthic; brackish; depth range 0 - 200 m (Ref. 2779), usually 0 - 6 m (Ref. 114208).  Subtropical; -1°C - 22°C (Ref. 114208), preferred 12°C (Ref. 107945); 70°N - 22°N, 20°W - 19°E (Ref. 114232)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Eastern Atlantic: From Great Britain north to Iceland, the North Sea and Norway, south to Portugal and Spain to Mauritania. Introduced and established in North America, South Africa (Cape Town), and Australia. Introduced but not established in Panama, Brazil, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Myanmar, Japan and Hawaii. Subtropical to polar.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 1 - 4.5 cm Max length : 6.0 cm CL male/unsexed; (Ref. 435); common length : 4.0 cm CL male/unsexed; (Ref. 435); max. reported age: 7 years (Ref. 128193)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Usually found in eelgrass beds (Ref. 128717). Maximum carapace width: 7.7 cm; commonly 5 cm wide. Inhabits shallow water from the intertidal area down to 200 m. Lives under stones, on muddy or muddy sand bottoms, or hard bottom, etc. Also inhabits brackish lagoons (Ref. 2779), and eelgrass beds (Ref. 128717).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Members of the order Decapoda are mostly gonochoric. Mating behavior: Precopulatory courtship ritual is common (through olfactory and tactile cues); usually indirect sperm transfer (Ref. 833). Berried females migrate from littoral areas to more saline and deeper water (8-10 m) until hatching of eggs; afterwhich, they go back to moult and copulate (Ref. 128197). Larger females can breed twice or thrice annually (Ref. 128203).

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Fischer, W., G. Bianchi and W.B. Scott (eds.). 1981. (Ref. 435)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO - Fisheries: landings | FishSource | Sea Around Us

Tools

E-book | Field guide

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Fisheries: ; publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 7 - 12.7, mean 9.6 (based on 453 cells).
Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Very high.
Nutrients: Calcium = 109 [35, 184] mg/100g; Iron = 1.59 [1.21, 1.97] mg/100g; Protein = 20.2 [19.2, 21.3] %; Omega3 = 0.285 [0.185, 0.386] g/100g; Selenium = 48.3 [-31.7, 128.3] μg/100g; VitaminA = 0 μg/100g; Zinc = 1.79 [1.17, 2.40] mg/100g (wet weight).