King crab

Paralithodes californiensis

The stone and king crabs ( Lithodidae ) are a family of crab -like decapods ( Decapoda ). As with the crabs her abdomen is folded under the front body. However, they have only four pairs of legs visible. The first carries scissors. The fifth pair of legs is tucked away in the gill cavity is shortened and has the function of a cleaning brush. The carapace is heavily calcified triangular or oval in shape and. Stone and king crabs probably descended from hermit crab -like ancestors. The abdomen of the female is still asymmetric, as was that of their ancestors in adaptation to protection by auger housing.

Dissemination

They live mainly in the cold seas, distribution focus is the northern Pacific. But also on the U.S. West Coast to Patagonia, in the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean, there are stone and king crabs. Species in warmer seas live at great depths, on cold coasts inhabit the shallower water.

Many large species such as the Kamchatka king crab ( Paralithodes camtschaticus ) be fished because of their palatability.

Genera

The family of stone and king crabs comprises about 100 species in the following 10 genera:

• Cryptolithodes Brandt, 1848
• Glyptolithodes Faxon, 1895
• Lithodes Latreille, 1806
• Lopholithodes Brandt, 1848
• Neolithodes A. Milne - Edwards and Bouvier, 1894
• Paralithodes Brandt, 1848
• Paralomis White, 1856
• Phyllolithodes Brandt, 1848
• Rhinolithodes Brandt, 1848
• Sculptolithodes Makarov, 1934