Cancer oregonensis
From ize
Common name: Pygmy Rock Crab
| Taxonomy | |
|---|---|
| Kingdom: Animalia | |
| Phylum: Arthropoda | |
| Class: Malacostraca | |
| Order: Decapoda | |
| Family: Cancridae | |
| Genus: Cancer | |
| Species: C. oregonensis |
Contents |
Characteristics:
Pygmy rock crabs are usually red/brown but this may vary; their legs have many setae (hair); width of the carapace gets up to about 5 cm; tips of cheliped are black and the dactyle of the cheliped doesn’t have any spiny ridges; the carapace is widest at the 7th or 8th lateral tooth; the dorsal surface is covered with small tubercles (rounded projections), males have longer chelipad’s than females. Habitat: Found mostly in crevasses, holes (dead barnacles) and under rocks. They are commonly found in the intertidal zone but can live in depths of up 436 meters underwater.
Feeding:
Are nocturnal feeders, feeding mostly on small barnacles, snails, bivalves, worms, green algae and Japanese oysters.
Predators:
Pacific Cod, River otters and red rock crab.
Breeding:
Breeding occurs during the summer time, for the Puget Sound females are ovigerous from November to April/May. It isn’t unusual to find harems consisting of 1 male with as many as 7 females. Males may carry females that are molting and continue them until their new shell hardens, for mating occurs after females molt.
Resources:
Marine invertebrates of the Pacific Northwest by Eugene N. Kozloff http://www.beachwatchers.wsu/ezidweb/animals/cancerogeonesis.htm
www.wallawalla.edu/academics/department/biology/rosario/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostacea/eucmalacrotraca/eucarida/decapoda/brachyum.htm
