Infraorder Brachyura Rank Species | Superfamily Majoidea Higher classification Hyas | |
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Similar Hyas, Crab, Great spider crab, Crustacean, Decapoda | ||
Hyas coarctatus is a marine crab species with a lyriformed shell (lyre).
Contents
Morphology
Hyas coarctatus look a lot like H. araneus, but has a lyriformed shell. The carapace of a large specimen may grow to a length of 61mm and a width of 44mm in North-West Europe. In the inner Danish waters H. coarctatus hasn’t been found bigger than 5 cm. The colour is greybrown on the dorsal side from time to time with a bit reddish, the ventral side is dirty white. The rostral horns of H. coarctatus are slightly longer and spaced further apart than in H. araneus. Chelipeds are longer than in H. araneus. The outer segment of the walking legs is often more or less furry.
Ecology
H. coarctatus is found at both hard, stony, sandy and soft bottom from 1–500 meters, though most often above 50 meters. This distinguishes H. coarctatus from H. araneus which is found at lower depths. H. coarctatus is widely distributed in the North-East Atlantic Sea and adjacent seas. The northern border is around the North and West coast of Splitsbergen and Barents Sea, the southern distribution goes down to the North-East coast of France, and the eastern border is the Western Baltic Sea, the Belt Sea and the Sound of Denmark.
