''Ashtoret lunaris'', also known as the yellow moon crab, spotted moon crab or box crab, is an

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

species of carnivorous

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

which is a member of the family

Matutidae Matutidae is a family of crabs, sometimes called ''moon crabs'', adapted for swimming or digging. They differ from the swimming crabs of the family Portunidae in that all five pairs of legs are flattened, rather than just the last pair, as in Por ...

. It has been recorded in the eastern Mediterranean since 2010, probably reaching that sea through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea by

Lessepsian migration The Lessepsian migration (also called Erythrean invasion) is the migration of marine species across the Suez Canal, usually from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and more rarely in the opposite direction. When the canal was completed in 18 ...

Description

''Ashtoret lunaris'' has a

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

which has a finely grained texture, as well as six tubercles in the middle of the dorsal surface. It also has a linear tubercle along the middle of the posterior of the carapace. The front has straight lobes, with a lateral and slightly emarginated

rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * Ros ...

which is located in the centre and the front lateral margin has five small tubercles followed by three larger deltoid tubercles. The lateral spine is equal in length to a fifth of the carapace width. Chelipeds have a five-lobed ridge in the middle of the palm, the second and fourth lobes of which are pointed with the second lobe being the largest. There is a ridge on the outer surface of the

dactylus The dactylus is the tip region of the tentacular club of cephalopods and of the leg of some crustaceans (see arthropod leg). In cephalopods, the dactylus is narrow and often characterized by the asymmetrical placement of suckers (i.e., the ve ...

of males which is finely grained in texture; this is absent in females. The carapace is beige or yellow in background colour and is covered in red dots. The

pereiopod The decapod (crustaceans such as a crab, lobster, shrimp or prawn) is made up of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various g ...

s have paddle-shaped tips which facilitate a skimming locomotion along the substrate and rapid burrowing into sand. In some specimens the paddles have large, dark blotches and sometimes smaller dark spots on the legs. They grow to 3–8 cm in width. Kinsengani0905-1

Distribution

''Ashtoret lunaris'' has a natural distribution in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean from the Red Sea and eastern African coast as far south as

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

east to

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, south to Australia and north as far as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The first specimen of ''A. lunaris'' recorded in the Mediterranean was a single specimen which was collected at a depth of 20m in

Haifa Bay The Bay of Haifa or Haifa Bay ( he, מפרץ חיפה, ''Mifratz Heifa''), formerly Bay of Acre, is a bay along the Mediterranean coast of Northern Israel. Haifa Bay is Israel's only natural harbor on the Mediterranean. ''Haifa Bay'' also ref ...

by a trawler in 1987. No specimens were recorded in subsequent years and it was assumed that any population had died out. Then, in 2015, four female specimens were caught by a trawler in

Iskenderun Bay The Gulf of Alexandretta or İskenderun ( tr, İskenderun Körfezi) is a gulf of the eastern Mediterranean or Levantine Sea. It lies beside the southern Turkish provinces of Adana and Hatay. Names The gulf is named for the nearby Turkish city ...

in south eastern Turkey suggesting that the species had become established in the area. The most likely route of colonisation was from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and then along the northward current that runs along the Israel-Lebanon-Syria coast towards Iskenderun Bay.

Biology

''Ashtoret lunaris'' is commonly encountered in sandy and muddy shores, especially near seagrass beds from the intertidal zone to a depth of 50m. They are usually nocturnal and spend the day buried in the substrate just below the surface, creating breathing channels to the surface of the sand. They hunt small shellfish, worms and other animals. During the night, they are known to take other crabs. When threatened, ''A. lunaris'' often draws its legs up under the overlapping edges of the carapace and appears to sham death; this may make it difficult for a predator to dismember the crab.

Uses

''Ashtoret lunaris'' is fished for food using nets but not in Singapore.

Name

''Ashtoret lunaris'' was described by the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

zoologist

Peter Forsskål Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelled Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål or Pehr Forsskåhl (11 January 1732 – 11 July 1763) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish explorer, orientalist, naturalist, and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Earl ...

in 1775. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''lunaris'' refers to the moon. while the generic name ''Ashtoret'' refers to the

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n moon goddess

Ashtoreth Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart (Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar (East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name i ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13399811 Calappoidea Crustaceans described in 1775 Taxa named by Peter Forsskål