Life History and Population Dynamics of Green Crabs (Carcinus maenas)

Abstract

Carcinus maenas (the “shore crab” or “European green crab”) is a very proficient invader (considered to be one of the world’s 100 worst invaders by the IUCN) due to its phenotypic plasticity, wide temperature and salinity tolerance, and an extensive omnivorous diet. Native to Atlantic Europe, it has established two well-studied nonindigenous populations in the northwestern Atlantic and northeastern Pacific and less-studied populations in Australia, Argentina and South Africa. Green crabs are eurythermal and euryhaline as adults, but they are limited to temperate coastlines due to more restrictive temperature requirements for breeding and larval development. They cannot tolerate wave-swept open shores so are found in wave-protected sheltered bays, estuaries and harbors. Carcinus maenas has been the subject of numerous papers, with over 1000 published in the past decade. This review provides an up-to-date account of the current published information on the life history and population dynamics of this very important species, including genetic differentiation, habitat preferences, physical parameter tolerances, reproduction and larval development, sizes of crabs, densities of populations, sex ratios, ecosystem dynamics and ecological impacts in the various established global populations of green crabs.

Metabarcoding, direct stomach observation and stable isotope analysis reveal a highly diverse diet for the invasive green crab in Atlantic Patagonia

“…Very little is known about green crab ecology at the Argentine coasts, in particular with regards to its local trophic interactions (Hidalgo et al 2007, Young andElliott 2020). Moreover, the observation that feeding behaviour is more aggressive in invasive than in native populations (Howard et al 2018), leads to further uncertainties on how this predator could affect the invaded ecosystem.…”

Diagnosis and prevalence of two new species of haplosporidians infecting shore crabsCarcinus maenas:Haplosporidium carcinin. sp., andH. crancn. sp.

“…Shore crabs are scavengers and feed on a wide variety of dietary material such as dead fish and molluscs, including mussels (e.g. Cohen et al ., 1995; Young and Elliott, 2020) leaving them vulnerable to chance infections. Indeed, the recent finding of low level infections of shore crabs by the important viral pathogen of molluscs, Ostreid herpesvirus-1 microVar (Bookelaar et al ., 2018), may point to the possibility that C. maenas can act as a carrier, reservoir or alternate host for a range of parasites and pathogens because of their scavenging behaviour.…”

Methods to study organogenesis in decapod crustacean larvae. I. larval rearing, preparation, and fixation

“…4e, e'). (5) The sieve should have lateral incisions below the mesh to allow drainage of culture-water into the collecting vessel (Fig. 4e").…”

“…Decapoda is a highly diverse subgroup of malacostracan crustaceans that includes well-known representatives such as ornamental shrimps, clawed and spiny lobsters, hermit crabs, and true crabs. Many decapods represent key species in estuarine, intertidal, and coastal areas where they can have such a high abundance that changes in their population structure may directly influence the structure of the whole ecosystem [4,5]. Decapods inhabiting estuaries or intertidal zones are adapted to enduring tremendous variations in temperature, pH, and salinity at a daily scale as the consequence of the tides.…”

“…Decapods inhabiting estuaries or intertidal zones are adapted to enduring tremendous variations in temperature, pH, and salinity at a daily scale as the consequence of the tides. Decapoda also embraces many species with global invasive potential signifying their ability to adapt to new and changing environments (reviews [5][6][7][8][9]).…”