Wrinkled Swimming Crab

Liocarcinus corrugatus (Pennant, 1777)

Portunus corrugatus.—Bouvier, 1911:226 [Mauritania].—Capart, 1951:120 [Spanish Sahara].—Monod, 1956:174, fig. 202 [Senegal, Guinea, Gabon, Angola; references].—Maurin, 1968b:484 [Spanish Sahara].

Macropipus corrugatus.—Guinot and Ribeiro, 1962:31 [Cape Verde Islands, Angola].—Ribeiro, 1964:5 [Cape Verde Islands].—Forest and Guinot, 1966:59 [Senegal].—Maurin, 1968b:484 [Spanish Sahara].—Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968:372, figs. 13e, 118c–e, 120c, 122d, 123e, 124c [Spain; references].—Bas, Arias, and Guerra, 1976, table 3 [Spanish Sahara].—Türkay, 1976b:61 [listed], 66 [Madeira].

SYNONYM.—Portunus leachi Risso, 1827.

DISTRIBUTION.—Eastern Atlantic, from England to Senegal, Angola, including the Azores, Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands, Mediterranean; also Indo-West Pacific (Stephenson, 1972:23); littoral to 60 m.

Macropipus Prestandrea, 1833:5 [type-species: Portunus macropipus Prestandrea, 1833, a subjective junior synonym of Portunus tuberculatus Roux, 1830, by tautonymy; gender: masculine; name 987 on Official List].

Elliptodactylus Doflein, 1904:93 [type-species: Elliptodactylus rugosus Doflein, 1904, by monotypy; gender: masculine].

DEFINITION.—Carapace broader than long, with 5 anterolateral teeth, iridescent patches present on surface and on pereiopods. Front with 3 lobes. Dorsal margin of orbit with 2 closed incisions, ventral margin (Figure 18b) deeply U-shaped. Basal antennal article touching front, usually freely movable. Chelipeds unequal, shorter than pereiopods 2 to 5; merus with distal ventral tooth; carpus with strong inner tooth and smaller outer tooth; dactylus (Figure 18d) with 2 dorsal ridges. Propodus of second to fourth pereiopods each with 2 ventral ridges (Figure 18f,h). Third to fifth abdominal somites fused in male.