Biodiversity & Conservation

Velvet swimming crab - Necora puber

Necora puber

Image Sue Daly - Necora puber. Image width ca 15 cm.
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Distribution map

Necora puber recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Necora puber is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Arthropoda Arthropods, joint-legged animals, e.g. insects, crustaceans & spiders
Class Malacostraca Crabs, lobsters, sand hoppers and sea slaters
Authority Linnaeus, 1767
Recent synonyms Liocarcinus puber, Portunus puber
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland All British and Irish coasts.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found on stony and rock substrata intertidally and in shallow water, most abundant on moderately sheltered shores.
Text page icon Description A fast moving swimming crab, blue in colour but obscured by a brown pubescence with red prominences. The dorsal surface has a finely velvety texture and the eyes are red. It grows to about 8 cm.
Identifying features
  • Carapace dorsal surface flattened and pubescent.
  • Frontal margin with up to 10 narrow unequal teeth, middle two often larger.
  • Antero-lateral margin with five sharp, forward-pointing teeth.
  • Chelipeds equal, strong, pubescent.
Additional information icon Additional information Also known as the devil crab and velvet swimming crab.

This review can be cited as follows:

Emily Wilson 2008. Necora puber. Velvet swimming crab. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 25/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3858>