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Wednesday, 15 July 2015

Sally Lightfoot - Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) - Cyprus

See also

Documentation on the establishment of Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) in Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean) By G. Κonstantinou and K. Kapiris


Alien species of Cyprus



Percnon gibbesi 
is a species of crab. It is one of at least two species commonly called "Sally Lightfoot" (the other being the semi-terrestrial Grapsus grapsus from the Pacific coast of the Americas), and is also referred to as the nimble spray crab or urchin crab. It has been described as "the most invasive decapod species to enter the Mediterranean"
Adults have a carapace 30 millimetres (1.2 in) wide, and legs with yellow rings at the joints. Each of the five pairs of walking legs has a row of spines along the leading edge. Females carrying eggs have been caught off West Africa between February and April and August; the larvae which hatch from them are planktonic and long-lived, which may contribute to the species' invasiveness
The genus Percnon is currently "doubtfully placed" in the family Plagusiidae, and it has also been included in the family Grapsidae
P. gibbesi is one of the most widespread grapsid crabs, being found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and on the Pacific coast of North America. There, its range extends from California to Chile, while in the Atlantic, it occurs natively from Florida to Brazil and from Madeira to the Gulf of Guinea. It has recently invaded the Mediterranean Sea, having first been discovered at LinosaSicily in 1999. It has subsequently been found on the Balearic Islands, in Greece, Cyprus, in Libya and in Malta.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photos Potamos tou Kampou 15/7/2015 by George Konstantinou

                                                          Video Costas Constantinou




3 comments:

  1. Spotted one in a bay near at Goethe's paphos

    ReplyDelete
  2. Spotted one at the beach near the church of St. Gerry the Goatfucker's

    ReplyDelete