Family Lithodidae Rank Species | Genus Lithodes Higher classification Lithodes | |
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Similar European spider crab, Lithodes, King crab, Paralomis granulosa, Crustacean | ||
Lithodes santolla, also known as the southern king crab in English or centolla in Peru, Chile and Argentina, is a species of king crab, found off the Pacific coasts of South America, especially from Valdivia at 39° 50' S to Cape Horn at 60° S. It lives in the benthic zone at depths up to 150 metres (490 ft), but south of 40° it has been found at 600 m (2,000 ft).
The lucrative centolla fishery around Tierra del Fuego led to an incident in August 1967 when the Argentine schooner Cruz del Sur was found fishing 400 metres (1,300 ft) from Gable Island and had to be escorted out of Chilean waters by the Chilean patrol boat Marinero Fuentealba. This event among many other led to the Beagle conflict in the late 1970s.
The United States Food and Drug Administration lists the centolla crab and southern king crab as two separate species: Lithodes antarcticus and Lithodes santolla respectively. Other sources consider Lithodes antarcticus to be a synonym of Lithodes santolla.
A recent study has found that L. santolla is capable of withstanding long periods of aerial exposure with not detrimental effect on crab survival, opening the possibility of commercializing L. santolla in the attractive live seafood market.
