Common Shore Crab

Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758)

Carcinus maenas.—Monod, 1956:165, fig. 194 [Mauritania; references].—Forest and Gantès, 1960:351 [Morocco].—Guinot, 1967a:253 [Indian Ocean localities; listed].—Monod, 1967:178 [no locality].—Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968: 354, figs. 115a, c [Spain; references].—Christiansen, 1969: 49, fig. 18, map 12 [Scandinavia].

SYNONYMS.—Cancer viridis Herbst, 1783; Cancer granarius Herbst, 1783; Cancer pygmaeus Fabricius, 1787; Cancer rhomboidalis Montagu, 1804; Megalopa montagui Leach, 1817; Portunus menoides Rafinesque, 1817; Cancer granulatus Say, 1817.

DISTRIBUTION.—Eastern Atlantic, from Norway, N of 70° N latitude, S to Mauritania, about 20° S latitude; western Atlantic; eastern Pacific; Australia. In the Mediterranean it is replaced by the allied C. aestuarii Nardo, 1847 (= C. mediterraneus Czerniavsky, 1884) (see Bacescu, 1967, and Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968, for differences between the two species).

Xaiva MacLeay, 1838:62 [type-species: Xaiva pulchella MacLeay, 1838 (? = Portunus biguttatus Risso, 1816), by monotypy; gender: feminine; name 1649 on Official List].

Portumnoides Bohn, 1901:270, 271 [type-species: Portumnoides garstangi Bohn, 1901, a subjective junior synonym of Portunus biguttatus Risso, 1816, by monotypy; gender: masculine].