hard crab
Callinectes sapidus
#nm_0618📍 International
- Language
- English
- Transliteration
- hard crab
Compound: hard + crab hard: fully hardened shell, crab: crustacean ↳ the final moult stage, once the new shell has fully calcified — the end of the progression that begins at green crab
Swimming crab (Portunidae) native to the western Atlantic from Cape Cod to Argentina. Distinctive blue coloration, carapace up to 23cm wide. Invasive in the Mediterranean, where it threatens native mollusk populations.