Helice tridens
Species of crab
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Helice tridens is a species of crab which lives on mudflats around the coasts of Japan and the Korean Peninsula.[3]
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| Helice tridens | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura |
| Family: | Varunidae |
| Genus: | Helice |
| Species: | H. tridens |
| Binomial name | |
| Helice tridens | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
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Ecology
It is semi-terrestrial, returning to the sea to spawn.[4] The species appears to be adversely affected by the presence of raccoons (Procyon lotor), an invasive predator.[4] H. tridens has a salinity requirement which lies between those of two other estuarine crabs in Japan, Helicana japonica and Chiromantes dehaani.[5]
Smaller individuals shelter in burrows in reed marshes, apparently in order to avoid cannibalism; this may also be the reason for the migration of larger individuals to brackish water lagoons in summer, when the crabs exceed their carrying capacity.[6]
Taxonomy
Helice tridens was first described by Wilhem de Haan in an 1835 volume of Fauna Japonica, as Ocypode tridens.[7] The former subspecies H. t. wuana and H. t. sheni are now recognised as a separate species, Helicana wuana.[2]
