The family Homolidae, known as carrier crabs or porter crabs, contains 14 genera of marine
crabs. They mostly live on the
continental slope
A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin ...
and
continental shelf, and are rarely encountered.
Members of the Homolidae have their fifth
pereiopods (last pair of walking legs) in a sub-dorsal position, which allows them to hold objects in place over the rear half of the
carapace.
The objects carried include
sponge
Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...
s,
black coral
Antipatharians, also known as black corals or thorn corals, are an order of soft deep-water corals. These corals can be recognized by their jet-black or dark brown chitin skeletons, surrounded by the polyps (part of coral that is alive). Antipat ...
s and
gorgonians, and this behaviour may be a defence mechanism against
predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
s.
Some species have been observed carrying living
sea urchins in a
symbiotic relationship which allows them to benefit from the protection of the urchin's dangerous spikes.
Genera
A total of 14 genera are currently recognised in the family:
*''
Dagnaudus''
Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1995
*''
Gordonopsis''
Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1995
*''
Homola''
Leach, 1816
*''
Homolax''
Alcock, 1899
*''
Homolochunia''
Doflein, 1904
*''
Homologenus''
A. Milne-Edwards, in Henderson, 1888
*''
Homolomannia''
Ihle, 1912
*''
Ihlopsis''
Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1995
*''
Lamoha''
Ng, 1998
*''
Latreillopsis''
Henderson, 1888
*''
Moloha''
Barnard, 1947
*''
Paromola''
Wood-Mason & Alcock, 1891
*''
Paromolopsis''
Wood-Mason & Alcock, 1891
*''
Yaldwynopsis''
Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1995
See also
* ''
Homola barbata
''Homola barbata'' is a species of crab in the family Homolidae.
Description
They usually have squarish carapaces with forward-pointing spines along the upper front edges. The animal's chelipeds are shorter than their other legs (the back pa ...
'', in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
* ''
Paromola cuvieri
''Paromola cuvieri'' is a species of crab in the family Homolidae, the carrier crabs. It occurs in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, from Angola to Norway, the Northern Isles and Iceland. It is demersal, occurring at depth ...
'', in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea
References
Dromiacea
{{crab-stub