Paromola cuvieri
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| Paromola cuvieri | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura |
| Family: | Homolidae |
| Genus: | Paromola |
| Species: | P. cuvieri |
| Binomial name | |
| Paromola cuvieri (Risso, 1816) | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
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Paromola cuvieri is a species of crab in the family Homolidae, the carrier crabs. It occurs in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, from Angola to Norway, the Northern Isles and Iceland.[2][3][4] It is demersal, occurring at depths of 10–1,212 metres (33–3,976 ft), but it is primarily found deeper than 80 m (260 ft).[2] It prefers areas with mud and emerging rocks,[2] and has been observed in deep-water coral gardens and sponge aggregations.[5][6] It is locally common.[7]
This reddish crab is sexually dimorphic; the males have larger claws and are overall larger than the females.[8] The carapace of the largest males can reach 21.5 cm (8.5 in),[2] while their claws can span 1.2 m (4 ft).[8] Like other members of the family, most P. cuvieri in their natural habitat carry an object, typically a living sessile invertebrate such as a sponge or deep-water coral, over the carapace in the small hindlegs.[5][6] This may be used as camouflage, but is also used actively in defense by positioning the object between the crab and a would-be attacker.[5] P. cuvieri is a scavenger of a wide range of animal matters,[2][5] and a predator of animals such as decapods, but only rarely takes small benthic species (glycerids, cumaceans and amphipods).[7]