Hapalogaster cavicauda
Species of king crab
title: "Hapalogaster cavicauda" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["king-crabs", "crustaceans-of-the-eastern-pacific-ocean", "anomura-of-the-pacific-ocean", "crustaceans-of-the-united-states", "crustaceans-of-mexico", "crustaceans-described-in-1859"] description: "Species of king crab" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapalogaster_cavicauda" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Species of king crab ::
| image = Hapalogaster_cavicauda.jpg | image_caption = | genus = Hapalogaster | species = cavicauda | authority = Stimpson, 1859
Hapalogaster cavicauda is a species of king crab that lives on the Pacific coast of North America.
Description
Hapalogaster cavicauda is a flattened, crab-like crustacean. It grows to a carapace width of 20 mm, and is covered in setae (hairs). The hairs on the third maxilliped are used to filter plankton from the water, which the animal feeds on, together with algae scraped from rocks. The females carry their eggs on the tail in winter.
Distribution
H. cavicauda is found along the Pacific coast of North America from Cape Mendocino in the north, through the Channel Islands, to Isla San Jerónimo, Mexico in the south. It usually lives beneath rocks in the lower part of the intertidal zone.
The related species H. mertensii occurs further north, but shares a similar ecology to that of H. cavicauda.
Taxonomy
The species was first described by William Stimpson in 1859 (as a preprint of an article published in 1862). He based the description on a specimen collected by "Mr. A. S. Taylor" at Monterey, California.
References
References
- (2010). "Annotated checklist of anomuran decapod crustaceans of the world (exclusive of the Kiwaoidea and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea) Part I – Lithodoidea, Lomisoidea and Paguroidea". [[The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology]].
- McDonald, Gary. (June 4, 2010). "''Hapalogaster cavicauda'' Stimpson, 1859". [[University of California, Santa Cruz]].
- (1992). "Between Pacific Tides". [[Stanford University Press]].
- Emerson, William K.. (March 1956). "Upwelling and associated marine life along Pacific Baja California, Mexico". [[Journal of Paleontology]].
- (2009). "Global bottlenecks in the distribution of marine Crustacea: temperature constraints in the family Lithodidae". [[Journal of Biogeography]].
- Stimpson, William. (1862). "XI. – Notes on North American Crustacea, No. 1". [[Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York]].
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