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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Crustaceans (Crustacea) » Malacostracans (Malacostraca) » Eucarida (Crabs, Crayfish, Shrimp, etc.) (Eucarida) » Crabs, Crayfishes, Lobsters, Prawns, and Shrimp (Decapoda) » True Crabs (Brachyura) » Swimming Crabs (Portunidae) » Portunus » Portunus sayi
Photo#1639900
sargassum swimming crab (Portunus sayi)? - Portunus sayi
Copyright © 2019 Jim Moore1

sargassum swimming crab (Portunus sayi)? - Portunus sayi
Worcester County, Maryland, USA
June 2, 2012
Size: c. 3.5 centimeters
Small crab found attached to sargassum seaweed floating on surface of water c. 10-30 miles out to sea in the Atlantic Ocean.

(Apologies if this is not within the scope of this site, but the taxonomy in your guide does include crustaceans, so I thought it might be.)
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Contributed by Jim Moore1 on 3 March, 2019 - 10:25am
Last updated 3 March, 2019 - 12:04pm

Moved, Portunus sayi
Moved from ID Request. Thanks! I’ve wanted to be able to add this species since I joined BugGuide fall 2014, but unfortunately I haven’t seen this species since just before that. My only sighting(s) came when Block Island was awash in sargassum in August 2014, right before I started photographing everything, and again in fall 2015, but in the Caribbean.

BugGuide is not meant to include oceanic species as a rule. Littoral species are, generally speaking, the only allowable marine species here. However, species than can be found washed ashore can count as well, so the sargassum fauna is fair game.
… Aaron Hunt, 3 March, 2019 - 12:04pm login or register to post comments

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