Portunus trituberculatus
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| Portunus trituberculatus (Miers, 1876) |
Portunus trituberculatus, the gazami crab, Japanese blue crab or horse crab, is the most widely fished species of crab in the world, with over 300,000 tonnes being caught annually, 98% of it off the coast of China [1].
P. trituberculatus is found from Hokkaidō to South India, throughout the Malay Archipelago and as far south as Australia. It lives on shallow sandy or muddy bottoms, less than 50 m deep, where it feeds on seaweeds and predates upon small fish, worms and bivalves.
The carapace may reach 15 cm (6 inches) wide, and 7 cm (2¾ in) from front to back. P. trituberculatus may be distinguished from the closely-related (and also widely-fished) P. pelagicus by the number of broad teeth on the front of the carapace (3 in P. trituberculatus, 4 in P. pelagicus) and on the inner margin of the merus (4 in P. trituberculatus, 3 in P. pelagicus) [1]. Other related species include P. sanguinolentus and the much smaller P. haani and P. nipponensis.
[edit] References
- ^ a b FAO fisheries global information system. Retrieved on 2006-08-02.
