''Liocarcinus depurator'', sometimes called the harbour crab or sandy swimming crab, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of crab found in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

, and

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. It grows up to in width and long, and can be distinguished from other crabs, such as the shore crab ''

Carcinus maenas ''Carcinus maenas'' is a common littoral crab. It is known by different names around the world. In the British Isles, it is generally referred to as the shore crab, or green shore crab. In North America and South Africa, it bears the name europ ...

'', by the curved rows of white spots on its carapace. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, in his 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It has a synonym, ''Portunus plicatus'', which was given by

Antoine Risso Giuseppe Antonio Risso (8 April 1777 – 25 August 1845), called Antoine Risso, was a Niçard and natural history, naturalist. Risso was born in the city of Nice in the Duchy of Savoy, and studied under Giovanni Battista Balbis. He published ' (1 ...

in 1816. The females in this species reach maturity within their first year of life. They reach their peak of reproduction during the winter time in the Mediterranean.

References

Portunoidea Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{crab-stub