DISSEMINATION
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DISSEMINATION |
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| Kingdom | Animalia | 
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| Phylum | Crustacea | |
| Class | Eumalacostraca | |
| Order | Decapoda | |
| Family | Portunidae | |
| Genus | Carcinus | |
| Species | mediterraneus | |
| Classification | Czerniavsky, 1884 | |
| Common name | green crab | |
| Size | lenght: 63 millimeters, width: 80 millimeters |
| Geographic Range | is native to the Atlantic Ocean off of the coast of Europe. |
| Physical Characteristics | the carapace is oval, smooth, with a front serrated line. Male is very different from female: the latter has large and roundy abdomen, and uses pleopods to carry eggs. Male has narrow and pointed abdomen and has only front pleopods. The upper part of the body is usually dark green in the adults, while the lower one is yellow or reddish. It has five pairs of legs for each side, the first one has strong claws used to defend and to attack. |
| Behaviour | in spring and summer, for the moult, it loses its exoskeleton and its body remains soft for a certain period, until the new exoskeleton becomes hard. |
| Notes | it is a euryterm and euryhaline species. |
| Habitat | salt and brackish water, it prefers littoral areas with shallow water and lagoons, where it is common in the fields of Zostera. |
| Food habits | carnivorous species, eats small fishes, shrimps, usually corpses. |
| Reproduction | the period of reproduction goes from May until December, generally immediately after the molting of the female crab. Following fertilization, the females then travel to deeper water to more stable water conditions where the eggs begin to develop. |
| Sources | |
| References | University of Michigan - Museum of Zoology Black Sea Environmental Internet Node "Produzione di moleche in laguna", di Silvia Stradella, in Laguna 1/1996 aprile |
| Web References | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html
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| Source of the photo | http://www.liceofoscarini.it/didattic/conchiglie/ |
Carcinus mediterraneus
