Relevant Synonyms - Misidentification -  drawing : Tuvia Kurz

SHORT DESCRIPTION Carapace subquadrate, bearing short, transverse, granulate ridges. Front and lateral margins granulated or finely saw-toothed. Front with four teeth, median notch deepest. Antero-lateral margin with four acute teeth. A pronounced rhomboid-shaped gap between inner margins of third maxillipeds. Chelipeds robust, equal, shorter than second walking leg; large spine on inner anterior margin of carpus; palm and basal part of fingers in males covered with dense mat of hair. Walking legs stout, laterally depressed, distal upper margin of merus prominently spinose. Abdominal segments 3-6 fused in male. color : greyish green to dark brown, sometimes with two pairs of pale spots. common size : CL 6.2 cm (max.). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Easily distinguished from other crabs by the mat of hair on cheliped palm. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Adults live in fresh waters; egg-laying and hatching takes place in estuaries or coastal regions. Larvae migrate into fresh water and crabs can migrate up river long distances, up to 1300 km. Ovigerous October-January, larvae March-July. habitat : shallow waters, rivers, estuaries, lagoons, coastal regions.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD France, 1960 [1959]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : China and Korea origin. Spread to the Baltic, the North Sea, and European Atlantic coasts from the Netherlands to the Bay of Biscay; spread to North America, from Lake Erie, to the Missisipi Delta and to California. Mediterranean : Etang de Sigean, France (Petit, 1960 [1959]). One specimen was collected in the central part of the Venice Lagoon, Italy, in May 2005 (Mizzan, 2005). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Reported from several locations in the Narbonne littoral lagoons (Petit, 1960). Population disappeared later (Petit and Mizoule, 1973). speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION From the Atlantic coast through the Garonne canal system (Canal du Midi) into the Languedoc lagoons. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS Damages river banks by burrowing; where the burrows are numerous, the banks cave in. Causes considerable damage to fisheries by consuming netted fish and by cutting nets. In China E. sinensis is considered a delicacy. The crab is an intermediate host of lung flukes in East Asia.

KEY REFERENCES Christiansen M.E., 1969. Crustacea Decapoda Brachyura. Marine Invertebrates of Scandinavia (Oslo), 2: 1-143. Ingle R., 1980. British Crabs. Oxford University Press. 222 pp. Mizzan L., 2005. Rhitropanopeus harrisii (Gould, 1841) (Crustacea, Decapoda Panopeidae) e Eriocheir sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1854 (Crustacea, Decapoda Grapsidae) : due nuovi granchi esotici in laguna di Venezia. Bollettiono del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Venezia, 56: 89-96.   Petit G., 1960. Le crabe chinois est parvenu en Méditerranée. Vie et Milieu, 11: 133-136. Petit G. and Mizoule R., 1973. En douze ans le "Crabe chinois" n'a pu réussir son implantation dans les lagunes du Languedoc. Vie et Milieu, série C, biologie terrestre, 23(1) [1972]: 181-186. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: August 2006 ©ciesm 2002