Stone crabs
Family Menippidae
updated
Dec 2019
Where
seen? Stone
crabs are commonly seen on our Northern shores, sheltering among stones,
coral rubble, rubbish and other hiding places.
Features: Body width 10-12cm,
smaller ones also often seen. Large rounded body with large pincers.
The common Stone crab (Myomenippe
hardwickii) is identified by bright
green eyes circled with red. The Maroon stone
crab (Menippe rumphii) lacks such eyes and is usually plain
maroon or red.
Steady crab: When a stone is overturned,
other crabs usually madly dash out helter skelter. The stone crab
merely tucks its limbs under its body and remains motionless. In this
way, predators overlook it as they focus instead on the more nervous
crabs.
Sometimes mistaken for Red
egg crabs (Atergatis integerrimus), especially Stone crabs
that are rather reddish. Here's
more on how to tell apart big crabs
with big pincers seen on the rocky shores and coral rubble. |
With eggs
Pulau Sekudu, Aug 05 |
Eating a jellyfish
Beting Bronok, May 06 |
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Some Stone
crabs on Singapore shores |
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Green eyes ringed with red.
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Eyes not green.
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Family
Menippidae recorded for Singapore
from
Wee Y.C. and Peter K. L. Ng. 1994. A First Look at Biodiversity
in Singapore
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References
- Ng, Peter
K. L. and Daniele Guinot and Peter J. F. Davie, 2008. Systema
Brachyurorum: Part 1. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran
crabs of the world. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Supplement
No. 17, 31 Jan 2008. 286 pp.
- Lim, S.,
P. Ng, L. Tan, & W. Y. Chin, 1994. Rhythm of the Sea: The Life
and Times of Labrador Beach. Division of Biology, School of
Science, Nanyang Technological University & Department of Zoology,
the National University of Singapore. 160 pp.
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