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Carcinus maenas 07.2025 (4)🦀

Photo: DidierFy · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesDecapodaCarcinidae
Arthropods

🦀European green crab

Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758)

Carcinus maenas is a common littoral crab. It is known by different names around the world. In the British Isles, it is generally referred to as the shore crab or green shore crab. In North America and South Africa, it bears the name European green crab. The European Green Crab is native to Europe and North Africa.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
1
Measurements
2
Also called
Carcinus maenas, Common shore crab
Conservation status
Not evaluated

The IUCN Red List has not assessed Carcinus maenas yet.

Key measurements
Body mass
not recorded
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
7 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the European green crab

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Maximum lifespan
7 yearsmaximum recorded
SeaLifeBase
Details ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Carapace length
0.04 mtypical adult, carapace length
SeaLifeBase
Other figures ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.06 mSeaLifeBasev25.04

Not recorded for European green crab yet: body mass, body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumArthropoda
  3. ›classMalacostraca
  4. ›orderDecapoda
  5. ›familyCarcinidae
  6. ›genusCarcinus
  7. ›speciesCarcinus maenas
Full lineage
  1. classCrabs, shrimp & kin · Malacostraca
  2. orderCrabs, lobsters & shrimp · Decapoda
  3. subfamilyCarcininae
  4. genusCarcinus
All 11 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classCrabs, shrimp & kin · Malacostraca
  4. subclassEumalacostraca
  5. superorderEucarida
  6. orderCrabs, lobsters & shrimp · Decapoda
  7. suborderPleocyemata
  8. infraorderBrachyura
  9. familyCarcinidae
  10. subfamilyCarcininae
  11. genusCarcinus
More

More about the European green crab

In other languages
strandkrabbe (nb), strandkrab (nl), rantataskurapu (fi), Carcinus maenas (pt), 普通濱蟹 (zh), Raczyniec jadalny (pl) … and 16 more languages
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Tree of life

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