E-Fauna BC: Electronic Atlas of the Fauna of BC (Mobile Atlas Page)

Metacarcinus gracilis (Dana, 1852)
Graceful Rock Crab; Slender Crab
Family: Cancridae

Species account author: Josephine Hart.
Extracted from Crabs and their relatives of British Columbia.

Introduction to the Crabs, Shrimps and Crayfish of BC

Distribution of Metacarcinus gracilis in British Columbia in British Columbia

Click here to view the full interactive map and legend.

Carapace surface more convex than Cancer magister and finely granulated; front with 5 teeth, the central smallest; has sharp antero-lateral teeth and one small postero-lateral tooth on margins. Pterygostomian area pubescent. Chelipeds with marginal pointed projections, two blunt teeth on dorsal ridge and fingers subequal, with small teeth on dorsal finger and both fingers light coloured. Walking legs slender; dactyls cylindrical; claw sharp.

Size

Carapace: male 65 x 115, female 60 x 87 mm.

Colour

Carapace light purplish or red-brown with some cream-coloured granules; margins outlined with cream except posteriorly where they are beaded with purplish-brown. Cheliped: ischium white; merus with orange and brown spots; carpus and palm with outer face whitish with purple and inner faces violet; fingers white with purple-brown, violet and orange. Walking legs white with red-brown and violet streaks; claw orange. Eyestalk white with purple brown streak; cornea white with black crescent.

Range

Prince William Sound (60°46’N, 146°31’W), Alaska, to San Sebastian Viscaino Bay, Mexico; intertidal to 143 m.

Distribution In British Columbia

Common in muddy areas.

These crabs may eat up to 25% of newly settled oyster spat in oyster farms. Floating rafts for spat collection will thwart this activity. (D. B. Quayle, pers. comm.). They have been observed breaking the shells and then eating barnacles (Brent Cook, pers. comm.).

Origin Status	Provincial Status	BC List (Red Blue List)	COSEWIC
Unlisted	Unlisted	Unlisted	Unlisted

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer--the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.

Central Pacific Crustacea (Decapoda & Stomatopoda) Database
A Snail's Odyssey

E-Fauna BC Home

loading