Portunidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 ...

s which contains the swimming crabs.

Description

Portunid crabs are characterised by the flattening of the fifth pair of legs into broad paddles, which are used for

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

. This ability, together with their strong, sharp claws, allows many species to be fast and aggressive

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 ...

Examples

Its members include many well-known shoreline crabs, such as the European 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 eur ...

''), blue crab (''

Callinectes sapidus ''Callinectes sapidus'' (from the Ancient Greek ,"beautiful" + , "swimmer", and Latin , "savory"), the blue crab, Atlantic blue crab, or regionally as the Chesapeake blue crab, is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic O ...

''), and velvet crab ('' Necora puber''). Two genera in the family are contrastingly named ''

Scylla In Greek mythology, Scylla), is obsolete. ( ; grc-gre, Σκύλλα, Skúlla, ) is a legendary monster who lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart Charybdis. The two sides of the strait are within an arrow's r ...

'' and ''

Charybdis Charybdis (; grc, Χάρυβδις, Khárybdis, ; la, Charybdis, ) is a sea monster in Greek mythology. She, with the sea monster Scylla, appears as a challenge to epic characters such as Odysseus, Jason, and Aeneas. Scholarship locates her in t ...

''; the former contains the economically important species black crab (''

Scylla serrata ''Scylla serrata'' (often called mud crab or mangrove crab, although both terms are highly ambiguous, and black crab) is an ecologically important species of crab found in the estuaries and mangroves of Africa, Australasia, and Asia. In their ...

'') and ''

Scylla paramamosain ''Scylla paramamosain'' is a mud crab commonly consumed in Southeast Asia. Distribution ''Scylla paramamosain'' is found along the coastlines of the South China Sea down to the Java Sea. It is now produced by aquaculture farms in southern Viet ...

''.

Taxonomy

The

circumscription Circumscription may refer to: *Circumscribed circle *Circumscription (logic) *Circumscription (taxonomy) * Circumscription theory, a theory about the origins of the political state in the history of human evolution proposed by the American anthrop ...

of the family varies, with some authors treating "Carcinidae", "Catoptridae" and "Macropipidae" as separate families, and others considering them subfamilies of a wider Portunidae. Swimming crabs reach their greatest species diversity in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

Extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genera are marked with an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

. ;Caphyrinae Guérin, 1832 *'' Caphyra'' Guérin, 1832 *'' Coelocarcinus'' Edmondson, 1930 *''

Lissocarcinus ''Lissocarcinus'' is a genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and ...

'' Adams & White, 1849 *'' Mioxaiva'' † Müller, 1978 ;Carcininae MacLeay, 1838 *''

Carcinus ''Carcinus'' ( '' Karkinos'') is a genus of crabs, which includes ''Carcinus maenas'', an important invasive species, and '' C. aestuarii'', a species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. ''Carcinus maenas'' ''C. maenas'' is among the 100 "worl ...

'' Leach, 1814 *'' Cicarnus'' † Karasawa & Fudouji, 2000 *'' Miopipus'' † Müller, 1984 *'' Portumnus'' Leach, 1814 *'' Xaiva'' MacLeay, 1838 ;Carupinae Paul’son, 1875 *'' Carupa'' Dana, 1851 *'' Catoptrus'' A. Milne-Edwards, 1870 *''

Libystes ''Libystes'' is a genus of 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 un ...

'' A. Milne-Edwards, 1867 *'' Neptocarcinus'' † Lőrenthey, 1898 *'' Rakosia'' † Müller, 1984 *'' Richerellus'' Manning & Felder, 1989 ;Podophthalminae Dana, 1851 *'' Euphylax'' Stimpson, 1860 *'' Podophthalmus'' Lamarck, 1801 *'' Psygmophthalmus'' † Schweitzer, Iturralde-Vinent, Hetler & Velez-Juarbe, 2006 *'' Sandomingia'' † Rathbun, 1919 *'' Saratunus'' † Collins, Lee & Noad, 2003 *'' Viaophthalmus'' † Karasawa, Schweitzer & Feldmann, 2008 ;Polybiinae Ortmann, 1893 *'' Bathynectes'' Stimpson, 1871 *'' Benthochascon'' Alcock & Anderson, 1899 *'' Boschettia'' † Busulini, Tessier, Beschin & De Angeli, 2003 *'' Brusinia'' Števčić, 1991 *'' Coenophthalmus'' A. Milne-Edwards, 1879 *'' Falsiportunites'' † Collins & Jakobsen, 2003 *'' Gecchelicarcinus'' † Beschin, Busulini, De Angeli & Tessier, 2007 *'' Liocarcinus'' Stimpson, 1871 *'' Macropipus'' Prestandrea, 1833 *'' Maeandricampus'' † Schweitzer & Feldmann, 2002 *'' Megokkos'' † Schweitzer & Feldmann, 2000 *'' Minohellenus'' † Karasawa, 1990 *''

Necora The velvet crab, or alternately ''velvet swimming crab'', ''devil crab'', “fighter crab”, or ''lady crab,'' ''Necora puber'', is a species of crab from the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean. It is the largest of the swimming crab fam ...

'' Holthuis, 1987 *'' Ophthalmoplax'' † Rathbun, 1935 *'' Parathranites'' Miers, 1886 *'' Pleolobites'' † Remy, 1960 *''

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

'' Leach, 1820 *'' Pororaria'' † Glaessner, 1980 *'' Portufuria'' † Collins, Schulz & Jakobsen, 2005 *''

Portunites ''Portunites'' is an extinct genus of decapod in the family Polybiidae. There are about 12 described species in ''Portunites''. Species These 12 species belong to the genus ''Portunites'': * † ''Portunites alaskensis'' Rathbun, 1926 * † ''P ...

'' † Bell, 1858 *'' Proterocarcinus'' † Feldmann, Casadío, Chirino-Gálvez & Aguirre-Urreta, 1995 *'' Raymanninus'' Ng, 2000 *'' Rhachiosoma'' † Woodward, 1871 ;Portuninae Rafinesque, 1815 *'' Acanthoportunus'' † Schweitzer & Feldmann, 2002 *'' Arenaeus'' Dana, 1851 *'' Atoportunus'' Ng & Takeda, 2003 *'' Callinectes'' Stimpson, 1860 *'' Carupella'' Lenz ''in'' Lenz & Strunck, 1914 *'' Colneptunus'' † Lőrenthey ''in'' Lőrenthey & Beurlen, 1929 *'' Cronius'' Stimpson, 1860 *'' Euronectes'' † Karasawa, Schweitzer & Feldmann, 2008 *'' Laleonectes'' Manning & Chace, 1990 *'' Lupella'' Rathbun, 1897 *''

Lupocyclus ''Lupocyclus'' is a genus of crabs, containing six species: *''Lupocyclus inaequalis'' (Walker, 1887) *''Lupocyclus mauriciensis'' Ward, 1942 *''Lupocyclus philippinensis'' Semper, 1880 (scissor swimming crab) *''Lupocyclus quinquedentatus'' Rath ...

'' Adams & White, 1849 *'' Necronectes'' † A. Milne-Edwards, 1881 *'' Portunus'' Weber, 1795 *'' Pseudoachelous'' † Portell & Collins, 2004 *'' Rathbunella'' † Collins ''in'' Collins, Portell & Donovan, 2009 *'' Sanquerus'' Manning, 1989 *''

'' De Haan, 1833 ;Thalamitinae Paul’son, 1875 *''

'' De Haan, 1833 *'' Eocharybdis'' † Beschin, Busulini, De Angeli & Tessier, 2002 *'' Gonioinfradens'' Leene, 1938 *'' Thalamita'' Latreille, 1829 *'' Thalamitoides'' A. Milne-Edwards, 1869 ;''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

'' *'' Enoplonotus'' † A. Milne-Edwards, 1860 *''

Neptunus Neptunus is a baseball and softball club in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Following its 2014 championship season, the club signed a sponsorship contract for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons with Curaçao and competes under the name Curaçao Neptun ...

'' † de Haan 1839

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Portunoidea Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Decapod families