Portunus pelagicus

Taxon Family / Order / Class / Phylum

Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) Portunidae / Decapoda / Malacostraca / Arthropoda

COMMON NAMES (English only)

Blue swimming crab

SYNONYMS
Lupa pelagica H. Milne-Edwards, 1834
Neptunus pelagicus A. Milne-Edwards, 1861
Neptunus (Neptunus) pelagicus Alcock, 1899
Portunus mauritianus Ward, 1942
Portunus trituberculatus (non Miers, 1876) of authors.

SHORT DESCRIPTION
A medium-sized marine nocturnal crab (CL males: 7
cm, females: 6.5 cm), carapace greenish-brown with
irregular pale mottling edged dark brown, chelipeds are
purplish, mottled and fingers blue. Carapace broad, with
transverse granulate lines. The front has four acute lobes Portunus pelagicus
and the antero-lateral margin bears nine triangular teeth,
Photo: Bella Galil
the last tooth is the largest, projecting laterally.
Chelipeds are long, massive, spinous and ridged. A marine nocturnal crab. Active swimmer, but during inactive periods
buries in sediment.

BIOLOGY/ECOLOGY
Dispersal mechanisms
Planktonic larvae.
Reproduction
Copulation occurs year-round, sperm is stored in the spermathecae for a year or until eggs mature and are
fertilized internally. Females migrate to shallow waters to spawn and return to deeper waters to hatch. The larvae
undertake diel vertical migrations and travel inshore for settlement. The number of egg batches (1-3) and the
batch fecundity are correlated with size. The estimated number of eggs produced during a spawning season
ranges from 78,000 in small crabs (CW 80 mm) to one million in large crabs (CW 180 mm). In tropical regions
ovigerous females occur year round, in subtropical regions spawning occurs during summer months.
Known predators/herbivores
Elasmobranches.
Resistant stages (seeds, spores etc.)
Unknown.

HABITAT
Native (EUNIS code)
A4: Sublittoral sediments. Adults occur on sand, sandy-mud, from intertidal to 65 m, near reefs, mangroves,
seagrass and algal beds. Juveniles commonly occur in the intertidal and in estuaries.
Habitat occupied in invaded range (EUNIS code)
A4: Sublittoral sediments, sandy or muddy substrate, to depth of 55 m.
Habitat requirements
Euryhaline, 30-40 ppt; temperature tolerance range from 15 C to 25C.
DISTRIBUTION
Native (EUNIS code)
Indo-Pacific Ocean, Red Sea to Tahiti.
Known Introduced Range
Mediterranean, Levant Sea and Sicily.
Trend
Recorded from the Mediterranean coast of Egypt in 1898. Successively from Israel, southern Turkey, Lebanon,
Syria, Cyprus, Sicily, and Rhodes I. Along the Levant it forms large populations.

MAP (European distribution)

Legend
Known in country Known in CGRS square Known in sea

INTRODUCTION PATHWAY
Entered the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.

IMPACT
Ecosystem Impact
Competes for food with the native biota.
Health and Social Impact
Unknown.
Economic Impact
Commercially important in nearshore fisheries in the Levantine Basin.

MANAGEMENT
Prevention
Erect a salinity barrier in the Suez Canal in order to reduce the number of Red Sea aliens arriving in the
Mediterranean.
Mechanical
Unknown.
Chemical
Unknown.
Biological
Unknown.
REFERENCES
Fox HM (1924) The migration of a Red Sea crab through the Suez Canal. Nature, London, 113: 714-715
Holthuis LB (1961) Report on a collection of Crustacea Decapoda and Stomatopoda from Turkey and the Balkans.
Zoologische Verhandelingen, Leiden 47: 1-67
www.ciesm.org/atlas/

OTHER REFERENCES
Apel M, Spiridonov VA (1998) Taxonomy and zoogeography of the portunid crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda:
Brachyura: Portunidae) of the Arabian Gulf and Adjacent waters. Fauna of Arabia 17:159-331
Corsini-Foka M, Kondylatos G, Economidis PS (2004) Occurence of the lessepsian species Portunus pelagicus
(Crustacea) and Apogon pharaonis (Pices) in the marine area of Rhodes Island. Mediterranean Marine Science
5(1):83-89
Crosnier A (1962) Crustacs dcapodes Portunidae. Faune de Madagascar 16:1-154
Lestang S de, Hall NG, Potter IC (2003) Reproductive biology of the blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus,
Decapoda: Portunidae) in five bodies of water on the west coast of Australia. Fishery Bulletin 101:745-757
Stephenson W (1972) An annotated check list and key to the Indo-West-Pacific swimming crabs (Crustacea:
Decapoda: Portunidae). Bulletin of the Royal Society of New Zealand 10:1-64

Author: B. S. Galil
Date Last Modified: November 6th, 2006