home » Manicure » Crabs. King Leopard Crab (Parathelphusa Pantherina) Habitat of crabs

Crabs. King Leopard Crab (Parathelphusa Pantherina) Habitat of crabs

At least once in their life, everyone has had the opportunity to try this amazing and healthy seafood delicacy with a delicate, pleasant taste - crab meat. We are not talking about a popular substitute - the so-called “crab sticks”, made from fish protein and dyes, but about a natural product - the meat of sea animals. There are a large number of different varieties of crabs in the world, many of which reach very significant sizes - up to three and a half meters, and can weigh up to three kilograms.

For consumption, the tender white crab meat contained in its claws and paws is used. The meat is pre-boiled and then frozen or canned. Crab meat is considered a dietary product.

Composition of crab meat:
Crab meat contains many useful substances, including vitamins A and B (B1, B2, B5, B6, B9 and B12), micro- and macroelements such as iron, potassium, calcium, iodine, copper, phosphorus, selenium and other minerals. Crab meat contains fatty acids such as Omega-3 and Omega-6. Crab meat contains essential amino acids.

Calorie content of crab meat:
The calorie content of crab meat is about 90 kcal per 100 grams of product.

Useful properties of crab meat

Crab meat has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system, strengthens the heart muscle, normalizes cholesterol levels in the blood, and reduces the likelihood of vascular and heart diseases.
It has a beneficial effect on the thyroid gland and the functioning of the endocrine system.
Crab meat is good for the digestive system.
Helps improve vision.
Helps fight stress and depression, improves mood, strengthens the nervous system.
Experts recommend including crab meat in the diet of overweight people.
Crab meat helps protect the body from premature aging.
Positively affects the condition of the skin.
Crab meat is considered an aphrodisiac and helps increase potency in men.

Class: Higher crayfish Squad: Decapod crustaceans Family: Crab hermit crabs Genus: Paralithodes View: Kamchatka crab Latin name Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1885)

Images
on Wikimedia Commons

ITIS

NCBI

The cardiac and gastric regions of the shell are armed with three pairs of sharp large spines, regardless of the sex and age of the animal. The end of the beak (rostrum) is sharp, armed along the upper side with one large, often forked at the apex, spine and a pair of smaller spines. The movable spine (scaphocerite), located at the base of the outer antenna, is always simple and unbranched. The body and legs of living crabs are colored red-brown above and yellowish-white below, the lateral surfaces have large purple spots.

Resettlement in the Barents Sea

The first attempts to study the issue of introducing the Kamchatka crab into the Barents Sea were made in 1932, however, after analyzing the situation, the work was frozen due to the lack of a reliable method of delivering crab specimens from the Far East.

Crab as a valuable food product

The meat (white) found in the legs, claws and at the joint of the legs in the carapace, as well as caviar, is eaten. The amount of meat in an individual may vary depending on the season. The main method of preparation is boiling: crab limbs are placed in salted boiling water and cooked for 15-20 minutes. After cooking, the meat can be canned or frozen and stored.

Notes

Habitat

In nature, the king leopard crab lives in fresh water reservoirs located in Indonesia.

Appearance and gender differences

The color of the leopard crab is very unusual and beautiful. The light beige body is decorated with a scattering of dark brown spots, which is how this species got its name. The king crab is not very large: its body, including its claws, reaches 12 cm in length, and its carapace is 4 cm in length and 3 cm in width.

Conditions of detention

The king crab can hardly be called peace-loving. This animal prefers to stay isolated and have a personal territory that it does not want to share with other members of its family. It is recommended to keep crabs of this species in families, which usually consist of 2-3 females and one male. But if you plan to place several males in one aquarium, then it is important for each of them to provide a territory of at least 30 cm² in order to prevent the manifestation of intraspecific aggression, which often ends in self-harm and death of pets. Also in the aquarium you need to place a large number of various shelters, for example, ceramic pipes, clay shards, caves, grottoes and driftwood, so that each of the pets has a personal shelter and the opportunity to retire.

The leopard crab does not need sushi, so it feels quite comfortable in a regular aquarium. Although, if desired, you can keep your pets in an aquaterrarium with islands of land protruding above the water in the form of driftwood and stones. King crabs tend to escape outside the aquarium. They leave the tank quite quickly, using aquarium equipment for this purpose - cords, hoses, tubes, etc. Taking this into account, it is important to ensure that the aquarium with pets is always covered, be it with glass, mesh or a lid, which will prevent the escape. Unlike other types of crabs, which live on land for months and can freely do without a body of water for a long period, the leopard crab spends most of its life under water, only occasionally getting out onto land. Therefore, the animal’s gills dry out quite quickly, which, of course, can cause the death of the pet.

Molting is one of the most difficult periods in the life of a crab, and how quickly the pet adapts after it largely depends on the conditions of detention, for example, on the quality of food, temperature conditions and even lighting intensity. It is worth noting that crab molting occurs exclusively in water, so it is important that it is not contaminated with waste products. Therefore, care should be taken to filter and aerate the water. The water parameters in the aquarium must correspond to the conditions in the natural habitat: temperature - 25–28 ° C, hardness - about 10 °, pH - approximately 8.0 (a slightly alkaline or neutral environment is needed, but in no case acidic, since it prevents hardening of the chitinous cover, which can have a detrimental effect on the pet).

It is important to ensure that your crab aquarium contains a sufficient number of live aquarium plants of all kinds, as this provides your pets with a more complete nutritious diet. Indeed, in addition to specialized feed and food of animal origin, the king crab also needs plant food, on which the normal growth, development and health of pets depends.

Crabs are marine crustaceans or decapod short-tailed crustaceans. The meat of almost all sea crayfish can be eaten, but only the commercial type of crab can be freely purchased. For the buyer, the size of the crabs that are available in the retail chain almost always matters. Some people choose a larger specimen, especially if the crab is needed for a festive feast; for others, for financial and other reasons, it is more convenient to purchase a smaller specimen.

If we consider in terms of the size of male and female crabs, then in commercial species, as a rule, females are somewhat smaller in size than males. If we consider all the representatives from the world of crabs, then the tiniest crab - the pea or the Black Sea pinnoterese - lives in the Black and Azov seas. The size of this baby is less than 10 mm. Of course, such crumbs, which cannot even be seen in the water, are of no commercial or food interest to humans. And here buy Kamchatka crab, one of the largest representatives of marine crustaceans, is the dream of many seafood lovers. Let's try to figure out whether there are other crabs that can compete with the Kamchatka crab in size.

Commercial species of crabs in Russian seas, their sizes

Today, it is quite easy to buy crab in a retail chain, especially considering that almost all commercial species of sea crabs are .

Kamchatka crab

In the English version, this sea animal is called the red king crab. Among all the crabs that live in the Seas of Okhotsk, Japan, and Bering, this is the largest and heaviest species. By their age limit, and king crabs live up to a quarter of a century, the size of the carapace - carapace - in males can exceed 20 cm and reach 25 - 26 cm, in females up to 20 - 22 cm. The weight of males at 18 - 19 years old can reach 5 - 6 kg, although the average weight of harvested crabs is 2.5 - 3.0 kg. The span of the king crab's walking legs can be 1.5 - 1.8 m. But the Kamchatka crab is not the only representative of such a serious size that is subject to catch in the Russian seas.

Crab blue

The English version of the name of this sea crayfish sounds like blue king crab. The name is associated with large blue spots that are located on a brown background. Its size is close to the Kamchatka crab. There are males weighing 4.5 - 5 kg with a carapace size of 22 cm. By the age of eight, blue crabs become capable of reproduction. At this age, they molt no more than once a year, during this period their size increases by no more than 1.5 cm. You can buy blue king crab quite often, since this species is actively caught in the same seas as red king crab.

Equal-thorn crab

This sea crayfish is also subject to industrial fishing. Most often, the shell of this crab is colored yellow. In weight and size, this inhabitant of the Okhotsk and Bering Seas is not inferior to the Kamchatka crab. Males with a weight of up to 6 - 7 kg and a carapace of 25 cm are not uncommon. If you can buy a Kamchatka crab with an average weight of 2.0 - 3.0 kg, then the average fishing weight of a brown king crab is 1.8 - 2.1 kg. Unlike the two previous relatives, this crab is almost absent from the Sea of Japan and the main catch takes place off the coast of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

Spiny crab

The English name is associated with the color of the shell - brown king crab, so the chitin has a rich dark brown color. Large males weigh more than 3.0 kg, and the average fishing weight is about 2 kg. Females have a carapace size of up to 15 cm, males - up to 18 cm. It lives in all seas of the Far East.
When we talk about the above species for which commercial fishing is permitted, it should probably be clarified that we are talking about craboids, which are closer to hermit crabs than to crabs, since they have only four pairs of well-developed legs, and the fifth pair is strongly reduced and hidden under the shell.

The question may arise, but is it possible to buy crab, which refers to real sea crabs and what size are they?

True crabs include:
strigun opilio;
Baird's Strigun;
four-cornered hairy crab;
Strigun angulatus;
Strigun red.

The sizes of these representatives of decapods are different. The largest is opilio, its shell measures 15 - 17 cm, and its weight reaches 2.5 kg.

Almost as good as opilio and Baird's strigun, with a carapace size of 12 - 16 cm and a weight of 0.8 kg to 1.2 kg.
Angulatus and red snow crab generally weigh less than a kilogram, the same weight as the hairy crab, which is very loved by the inhabitants of the Japanese islands.

A common feature of real crabs is the presence of five pairs of developed walking legs. What they have in common with craboids is the shape of the carapace, the presence of claws on the first pair of limbs, and of course the taste of the meat and its composition.
If you buy Kamchatka crab in shell, then you can distinguish it not only by size, but also by shape, but if you buy strigun meat opilio and red king crab meat without shell, then it is quite difficult for taste to distinguish them. The meat of all commercial crabs has approximately the same taste, calorie content and chemical composition.

Residents of different countries also have the opportunity to buy crab, which is exported from Russia.
The number of different families of crabs reaches almost one hundred, and the number of species - up to seven thousand.
Although crabs are decapoded marine invertebrates, in addition to five pairs of walking legs, they also have three pairs of very short thoracic legs. These legs are small and do not participate in movement. Their role is to participate in nutrition and respiration. Since sometimes the gills are located either next to the pectoral legs or directly on them.

The role of skin in crabs is performed by a hard chitinous layer, which itself has a unique composition. It is noteworthy that, unlike the skin of other animals, chitin does not stretch or increase in size as it grows. Therefore, crabs molt regularly. The periods between molts may lengthen as the crab matures.

Despite the fact that people have been catching crabs and eating them for many thousands of years, the biology of these animals still has many mysteries.

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For those who saw Kamchatka crabs for the first time in their lives, these animals make a great impression.

In terms of its size, the Kamchatka crab is an outstanding representative not only of decapods, but also of all crustaceans. The characteristic structural features of crustaceans, reproduced in the Kamchatka crab on a large scale, are strikingly striking even at the most superficial glance at this animal.

The width of the shell of the average male Kamchatka crab is about 16 centimeters, the span of its legs is almost 1 meter, and its weight exceeds 2 kilograms. The largest specimens reach 25 centimeters in carapace width, one and a half meters in leg span and 7 kilograms in weight.

The body of the Kamchatka crab consists of a cephalothorax, covered with a common shell, and a belly, folded under the cephalothorax. Therefore, if you look at a crab from above, only its shell and legs are visible. A powerful shell with large sharp spikes reliably protects the animal and, in addition, serves as a support for the muscles. The shell, like that of the crayfish, fuses with the body only on the back, and on the sides it lags behind the walls of the body and hangs down like the sides of a jacket, covering the gills. The gills in the resulting cavities are protected from damage and at the same time are easily washed with water. In front of the cephalothorax are attached two pairs of antennae, eyes on stalks, jaws and legs. The front edge of the shell is armed with a sharp outgrowth that protects the eyes.

The abdomen of the crab, always tucked under the cephalothorax, in females bears special appendages for bearing eggs. The abdomen contains the intestines and internal genital organs. The first pair of crab legs is armed with powerful claws, the next three pairs are used for movement, and the last pair of reduced legs is always under the shell and is used for cleaning the gills. The muscles of the walking legs are very well developed.

What do Kamchatka crabs eat?

Kamchatka crabs are predators. They eat marine bottom polychaetes, mollusks, amphipods, echinoderms, small sea acorns and other bottom animals. The crabs tear their prey with their claws and, using their legs and jaws, crush, grind and send it into their mouths. The right - large - claw is used to crush shells of mollusks and skeletons of sea urchins. With its left claw, the crab can tear only soft prey. Very interesting experiments were carried out to find out what sense crabs are guided by in their search for prey. Food was lowered into a large aquarium where Kamchatka crabs were kept. The animal immediately reacted to the smell with characteristic movements of the antennae and began searching for prey. The crab cannot determine the direction to the prey by smell, so it begins to move slowly, feeling the bottom with the ends of its claws. The crab lowers its claws vertically downwards and, touching the ground with the ends of its claws, quickly opens and closes them, as if snapping scissors, to see if anything gets caught. These probing movements are very energetic and "nervous".

The crab searches blindly, describing the most incredible loops along the bottom of the pool. As it approaches the feeder, when the smell of food intensifies, the crab becomes very excited and probes the bottom with its claws even more often. However, even in close proximity to the food (for example, at a distance of 1 centimeter from the end of the claws to the food), the crab repeatedly misses and moves away from it again. This suggests that the crab's sense of smell and vision are poor helpers, and it finds its prey only through touch.

Finally, the crab probes for food with the tip of its claw and quickly grabs it with one claw or both at once. In search of prey, the animals lost an unusually large amount of time, traveling an unnecessary long distance.

Kamchatka crabs spend their entire long lives wandering, repeating the same route every year. The Kamchatka crab is an exclusively running animal and is completely unsuited to either swimming or burrowing into the ground. The crab cannot burrow, because then its open gills can become clogged with silt. Powerfully developed leg muscles allow you to cover long distances. The crab runs both forward and sideways, alternately throwing out and bending its walking legs. The claws of the feet act like pegs stuck into the ground. The body is supported by weight when walking. The speed of movement of Kamchatka crabs in a straight line reaches 2 kilometers per hour. However, the crab usually moves in zigzags, and the distance it travels per day does not exceed 10-13 kilometers. Individual crabs wander in different directions, and the speed of movement of the entire school is only 2-4 kilometers per day. Crab shoals move throughout the year within their migratory area. The size of such areas for one school is almost 200 kilometers. Some crabs stray from their schools and move into schools in neighboring areas. The reason for such transitions is strong competition for food. Animals often move to areas where fishing is more active. There, the number of crabs drops significantly due to fishing, and competition for food decreases.

Where do Kamchatka crabs winter?

The wintering grounds of crabs are located quite far from the coast at depths of 110 to 200 meters. In fact, the crab does not hibernate, but continues to lead the same active lifestyle in winter as in summer. The move to depth is explained by lower water temperatures in shallow waters and the formation of ice. In the spring, when the bays of the sea are cleared of ice, the crabs move to shallower areas. During this period, males and females of the king crab stay in separate herds and move to the shore in parallel paths. Female crabs carry eggs on their abdominal legs, which have been developing since last year, and halfway through the adult crabs' journey to the shore, a mass hatching of larvae occurs. The fully developed crab embryos in the eggs, whose translucent eyes gave them the name “caviar with eyes,” tear the shells of the eggs into two halves and float up into the water column.

Reproduction of Kamchatka crabs

About a month after the start of migration, schools of males and females meet in shallow waters and mix. The mating period begins. The females at this time look very unpresentable: a dirty shell overgrown with barnacle shells, empty egg shells on the abdominal legs. Nevertheless, the males choose their mates and clamp the claws of the females with their claws. Couples can remain in this “handshake” position for 3 to 7 days. Then the males help the females molt by pulling off the contaminated old shell from them, and attach spermatophores to the bases of the third pair of walking legs of the female. After this, the partners separate. After some time, the female lays eggs on her abdominal legs, which are fertilized from the spermatophore and which the female carries on herself until next spring.

After mating, the schools of females and males again migrate separately, now the crabs go in search of food and feed all summer. Before the summer migration, the males molt, but in complete solitude, hiding among the underwater rocks. During the feeding period, crab schools gradually move from one field to another at an average speed of about 4 kilometers per day, destroying a significant number of bottom animals.

Where do Kamchatka crabs live?

The largest quantity of Kamchatka crab, as its name suggests, is found off the coast of Kamchatka, as well as in Primorye. Its distribution area goes from Posiet Bay through the northern part of the Sea of Japan, through the Sea of Okhotsk and most of the Bering Sea along the Aleutian Islands to the Pacific coast of Canada.

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