Hyas araneus

Cathal McNaughton I think this might be a female Hyas araneus, also a storm casualty from April 10.

Cathal McNaughton There seems to be 2 replacement legs on it left side and the front leg missing on the right.

Nicolas Jouault Also known as a "Pear Crab"

Andy Horton The ID to Hyas is clearer from this photograph

Cathal McNaughton Andy may I post a pic of that swimming crab I mentioned for ID opinions?

Andy Horton Cathal: all members are free to post what they want on topic.

Andy Horton http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3532

Andy Horton I have chanced upon an old photograph of Hyas from off Sussex

Andy Horton http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Pisa-x2.JPG

Andy Horton Don't take any notice of the misleading file name. The crabs are Eurynome sp. (left) & Hyas sp.(right) Photograph by David Wood (Shoreham Beach)

Cathal McNaughton Hi Andy, the one on the right certainly seems to be Hyas alright, with its typical velvety coat- which my one above is really lacking, untypically bald.

Cathal McNaughton Hi, is this crab Hyas araneus and if so is it also known as the 'toad crab' in English, or does that name only relate to Hyas coarctatus? I think this is a male Hyas araneus (shorter legs than female) based on line drawingas from 'A Key to the Crabs and Crab-like Animals of British Inshiore Waters' by John and Marilyn Crothers, reprinted 1988. Any assistance much appreciated.

Douglas Herdson Best thing, Cathal, is to send photos and details to Dr Paul Clark at the Natural History Museum who wrote "North East Atlantic Crabs: an atlas to distribution".

Cathal McNaughton Thanks Douglas, Dr Paul Clark sounds like the man to speak to, I always called these crabs spider crabs until a few years ago, maybe they are spider crabs but they arent the red coloured ones that grow quite big-Spiney spider crab?

Cathal McNaughton Thanks for the recommendation Douglas.

Cathal McNaughton Hi Dawn, know what you mean, theyre usually festooned with algae/weed and all over pretty furry looking, this one wqas washed up dead on the beach so it may have been washed around a bit first and lost its 'coat'? Going by the drawings in that book, this one definitely resembles araneus much more than coarctatus.

Cathal McNaughton Thanks for this Dawn, at this stage I'm not 100% sure I encontered the term Toad crab before, I possibly saw it refered to as Sea Toad and amazing memory produced the Toad crab name?!?!? Thanks for this, I'll do bit more googling. I'll see what is on MarLIN, cheers.

Cathal McNaughton Thats a nice image Dawn, this one has quite a carpet growing on it but appears to be araneus for sure- carapace more tapered towards the front end, good pic.

Andy Horton I have never received a report of Hyas from the shore anywhere around Britain and I have not had one reported by divers on fishermen off Sussex. However, they are probably overlooked or mistaken for other species. A fine discovery. Pity about the missing legs.

Andy Horton What other crabs are in the picture?

Nicolas Jouault Seen around Jersey, seem to have seen more in recent years. They move fairly slow, so they can be overlooked.

Cathal McNaughton Hi Andy, you helped me ID the 2 below the araneus, the one on the left is the hairy crab (Pilumnus hirtellus) and I think the one on the right is the grey swimming crab, which is possibly the same as the vernal crab (Liocarcinus vernalis?), sorry but I'm not certain about that 2nd one I mentioned, maybe you could refresh my memory?????? The one to its left is an edible crab and there is a prawn and lobster there too.

Cathal McNaughton Ive found quite a few of these over the years, usually just a carapace, seen an occasional live one, have another specimen photographed the same day which has far longer legs and I think that means a female?

Andy Horton Can we see the photograph of the other one please?

Andy Horton It is easy to get this species mixed up with Pisa. And easy to get the two species of Pisa mixed up as well. And even Pisa can be confused with other species. The earlier books were misleading. The books I was brought up on.

Cathal McNaughton Andy what is Pisa's full title please? So I can have a look for it online.

Cathal McNaughton Sorry should have looke dmy book 1st, it gives Pisa armata on its own as far as I can see, yes I see the similarity.

Andy Horton Pisa armata, Pisa tetraodon. I am pretty sure the above are Hyas. Hyas I have never found to be a common and widespread species.

Andy Horton http://www.seawater.no/fauna/arthropoda/araneus.html