Lithodes maja

Lithodes maja
Lithodes maja caught in Norway
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Anomura
Family: Lithodidae
Genus: Lithodes
Species:
L. maja
Binomial name
Lithodes maja
Synonyms[2]
  • Cancer horridus Pennant, 1777
  • Cancer Maja Linnaeus, 1758
  • Cancer spinosus Ascanius, 1776
  • Cancer spinosus amboinensis Seba, 1759
  • Inachus maja (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Lithodes arctica Latreille, 1806
  • Lithodes dubius Brandt, 1848
  • Lithodes maia (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Maia vulgaris Bosc, 1801
  • Maja eriocheles Lamarck, 1801
  • Parthenope maja (Linnaeus, 1758)

Lithodes maja, the Norway king crab or northern stone crab,[3] is a species of king crab which occurs in colder North Atlantic waters off Europe and North America. It is found along the entire coast of Norway, including Svalbard, ranging south into the North Sea and Kattegat, the northern half of the British Isles (with a few records off southwest England), and around the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and off south-eastern Greenland.[1][4][5] In the West Atlantic, it ranges from the Davis Strait between Greenland and Canada south to The Carolinas in the United States.[5][6]

The carapace is almost circular and may reach a width of up to 13–14 cm (5.1–5.5 in).[4] The whole body is brown or orange and is covered with large spikes. It lives on both soft and hard bottoms,[1][4] at depths of 10 to 1,000 m (30–3,280 ft).[5] Like most king crabs, females are asymmetrical, with the left side of the abdomen considerably larger than the right, although specimens with the reverse of this are occasionally found.[7]

The low rate of egg production by this species, in comparison to species fished in the North Pacific, limits its abundance, making it unsuitable for commercial exploitation.[8]

Larval development is lecithotrophic and takes about 7 weeks at a constant temperature of 9 °C (48 °F).[9]

  1. ^ a b c Cédric d'Udekem d'Acoz (2003). "Lithodes maja (Linnaeus, 1758)". Crustikon – crustacean photographic website. Tromsø Museum – University of Tromsø. Archived from the original on February 19, 2008. Retrieved August 16, 2007.
  2. ^ De Grave, Sammy (30 November 2021). "Lithodes maja (Linnaeus, 1758)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  3. ^ katrine. "lithodes maja | The Invertebrate Collections". University Museum of Bergen. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  4. ^ a b c K. Telnes. "Deepsea king crab". seawater.no. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Wilson, E. (2006). "Lithodes maja". MarLIN. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  6. ^ "Stone crab, Lithodes maja". Canada's Species. McGill University. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2007.
  7. ^ S. D. Zaklan (2000). "A case of reversed asymmetry in Lithodes maja (Linnaeus, 1758) (Decapoda, Anomura, Lithodidae)". Crustaceana. 73 (8): 1019–1022. doi:10.1163/156854000504949.
  8. ^ "Northern stone crab (Lithodes maja) exploratory fishing" (PDF). Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 3, 2007.
  9. ^ Anger, K. (August 1996). "Physiological and Biochemical Changes during Lecithotrophic Larval Development and Early Juvenile Growth in the Northern Stone Crab, Lithodes Maja (Decapoda: Anomura)". Marine Biology. 126: 283–296. doi:10.1007/BF00347453. S2CID 84314578.