Portunus trituberculatus

Taxobox | name = "Portunus trituberculatus"


image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Crustacea
classis = Malacostraca
ordo = Decapoda
subordo = Pleocyemata
infraordo = Brachyura
familia = Portunidae
genus = "Portunus"
species = "P. trituberculatus"
binomial = "Portunus trituberculatus"
binomial_authority = (Miers, 1876)

"Portunus trituberculatus", the "gazami crab", "Japanese blue crab" or "horse crab", is the most widely fished species of crab in the world, with over 300,000 tonnes being caught annually, 98% of it off the coast of China cite web|title=FAO fisheries global information system|url=http://www.fao.org/figis/servlet/FiRefServlet?ds=species&fid=2630|accessdate=2006-08-02] .

"P. trituberculatus" is found from Hokkaidō to South India, throughout the Malay Archipelago and as far south as Australia. In the Malay language, it is known as "ketam bunga" or "flower crab". It lives on shallow sandy or muddy bottoms, less than 50 m deep, where it feeds on seaweeds and predates upon small fish, worms and bivalves.

The carapace may reach 15 cm (6 inches) wide, and 7 cm (2¾ in) from front to back. "P. trituberculatus" may be distinguished from the closely-related (and also widely-fished) "P. pelagicus" by the number of broad teeth on the front of the carapace (3 in "P. trituberculatus", 4 in "P. pelagicus") and on the inner margin of the merus (4 in "P. trituberculatus", 3 in "P. pelagicus") . Other related species include "P. sanguinolentus" and the much smaller "P. haani" and "P. nipponensis".

References