Velvet crab

The velvet crab, or alternately velvet swimming crab, devil crab, “fighter crab”, or lady crab, Necora puber, is a species of crab. It is the largest of the swimming crab family (Portunidae) found in British coastal waters. It has a carapace width of up to 100 millimetres (3.9 in), and is the only species in the genus Necora.[1] Its body is coated with short hairs, giving the animal a velvety texture, hence the common name. It is one of the major crab species for United Kingdom fisheries, in spite of its relatively small size.

Velvet crab
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Order:
Decapoda
Infraorder:
Brachyura
Family:
Portunidae
Genus:
Necora

Holthuis, 1987
Species:
N. puber
Binomial name
Necora puber
Synonyms
  • Cancer puber Linnaeus, 1767
  • Liocarcinus puber (Linnaeus, 1767)
  • Macropipus puber (Linnaeus, 1767)
  • Portunus puber (Linnaeus, 1767)
  • Cancer velutinus Pennant, 1777

The velvet crab lives from southern Norway to Western Sahara in the North Sea and in north Atlantic as well as in western parts of the Mediterranean Sea, on the rocky bottom from the shoreline to a depth of about 65 metres (213 ft). The last pair of pereiopods are flattened to facilitate swimming.

References
  1. L. B. Holthuis (1987). "Necora, a new genus of European swimming crabs (Crustacea Decapoda, Portunidae) and its type species, Cancer puber L., 1767" (PDF). Zoologische Mededelingen. 61 (1): 1–14.


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