The velvet crab, or alternately velvet swimming crab, devil crab, “fighter crab”, or lady crab, Necora puber, is a species of crab from the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean. It is the largest of the swimming crab family (Portunidae) found in British coastal waters. It has a carapace width of up to 100 millimetres (3.9 in), and is the only species in the genus Necora. Its body is coated with short hairs, giving the animal a velvety texture, hence the common name. It is one of the major crab species for United Kingdom fisheries, in spite of its relatively small size.
The velvet crab lives from southern Norway to Western Sahara in the North Sea and in North Atlantic as well as in the western parts of the Mediterranean Sea, on the rocky bottom from the shoreline to a depth of about 65 metres (213 ft). The last pair of pereiopods are flattened to facilitate swimming.
Sc
ScavengerScavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While sc...
Ov
OviparousOviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
V
starts with
