Libinia dubia

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Species of crab

title: "Libinia dubia" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["majoidea", "crabs-of-the-atlantic-ocean", "crustaceans-described-in-1834", "taxa-named-by-henri-milne-edwards"] description: "Species of crab" topic_path: "general/majoidea" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libinia_dubia" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of crab ::

| image = Libinia dubia (YPM IZ 030749).jpeg | genus = Libinia | species = dubia | authority = H. Milne-Edwards, 1834

Libinia dubia, the longnose spider crab, is a species of crab in the family Epialtidae. It is found in shallow waters on the eastern coast of North America.

Description

The carapace of the longnose spider crab is nearly circular in outline. The shell grows to an average diameter of 6 to with the males being larger than the females. There are about six spiny protuberances on each edge of the shell and another six down the midline. The upper surface is covered with short setae (bristles) which are hooked and resemble velcro. To these the crab sticks pieces of seaweed and other organisms as camouflage.

Distribution

The longnose spider crab is found on the eastern seaboard of the United States at depths down to about 50 m. The range is from Cape Cod to southern Texas, including Cuba and the Bahamas. In the Indian River Lagoon, adults are found on sandy bottoms and juveniles in seagrass meadows. In the late 1900s this crab was identified off the coast of Tunisia, but by what means it had managed to cross the Atlantic Ocean is unclear.

Reproduction

When breeding, the male transfers bundles of sperm called spermatophores to the female. Fertilisation is internal and afterwards the female broods the eggs under her abdomen until they hatch. The larvae then become part of the zooplankton, having two zoeal stages and one megalopal or post-larval stage. After that the larvae settle on the sea bed and undergo metamorphosis into juvenile crabs.

Ecology

The longnose spider crab is a scavenger and detritivore. In seagrass meadows it eats the seaweeds that grow there. It is eaten by predatory fish such as the pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides), the gag grouper (Mycteroperca microlepis) and the oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau). It attempts to avoid being eaten by sticking unpalatable seaweeds and invertebrates onto its carapace. As it grows larger it no longer needs to disguise itself in this way because its shell is too large for the predators to ingest.

Longnose spider crabs are often found living inside the bells of cannonball jellies, Stomolophus meleagris.

References

References

  1. Peter Davie & Michael Türkay. (2012). "''Libinia dubia'' H. Milne Edwards, 1834".
  2. (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world". [[Raffles Bulletin of Zoology]].
  3. "''Libinia dubia'': Longnose spider crab". Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce.
  4. (2000). "Nichtmediterrane Crustacea-Arten in tunesischen Gewässern (Decapoda, Macrura und Brachyura)". [[Crustaceana]].

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majoideacrabs-of-the-atlantic-oceancrustaceans-described-in-1834taxa-named-by-henri-milne-edwards