Edible crab (Cancer pagurus) |Size||Carapace width: 20 cm (2)|
Not threatened (2). The common and familiar edible crab is
easily identified by its large black-tipped toothed pincers and
characteristic ‘pie-crust’ edging (3). It is the largest crab in
Britain, and the heavy oval-shaped body is reddish-brown in
colour (4). Although most individuals measure around 15 cm in
width (3), a specimen in the Natural History Museum in Paris has
a width of 28.5 cm (5). This crab has a wide distribution in
north-west Europe (2). It is common around the coastline of
Britain (3). Found in pools and gullies on course, rocky
substrata and on muddy sand offshore to depths of 100 m (3). The
largest specimens tend to occur offshore (2), whereas small
individuals tend to occur beneath boulders (4). Adult edible
crabs take a very wide range of prey species, and are important
predators of molluscs (2). When on sediments, these crabs dig
large pits in order to find food (4). Females reach maturity at
carapace widths of 12.7 cm, wher