Callinectes marginatus
Species of crab
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Callinectes marginatus, commonly known as the sharptooth swimcrab or marbled swimcrab, is a species of swimming crab in the family Portunidae.
| Callinectes marginatus | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura |
| Family: | Portunidae |
| Genus: | Callinectes |
| Species: | C. marginatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Callinectes marginatus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1861) | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Description
Distribution and ecology
Although the name Callinectes marginatus was used by Mary J. Rathbun and others to also cover animals now referred to the species C. larvatus and C. diacanthus, C. marginatus is now used only for a species found from the Cape Verde Islands and Nouadhibou, Mauritania to Angola.[3]
C. marginatus appears to be entirely marine, unlike some of its congeners, although there are records from the estuaries of the Congo River and the Hwini River.[3] The crabs dig holes around 30 cm (12 in) wide in mudflats.[4]