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Brown box crab
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Anomura
Family:	Lithodidae
Genus:	Echidnocerus
Species:	E. foraminatus
Binomial name
Echidnocerus foraminatus Stimpson, 1859

The brown box crab (Echidnocerus foraminatus) is a king crab that lives from Prince William Sound, Alaska to San Diego, California, at depths of 0–547 metres (0–1,795 ft). It reaches a carapace length of 150 millimetres (5.9 in) and feeds on bivalves and detritus. The box crab gets its name from a pair of round tunnel-like openings that form between the claws and adjacent legs when the animal folds its limbs up against its body. Both claws, and their adjacent legs, have matching half-circle notches in them that line up to create a circle-shaped opening when the limbs are tightly pulled against one another. This tubular round opening is called a foramen. The crab often lies buried in the sediment, and the two foramens in the chelipeds allow water into the gill chamber for respiration. The gill chamber is also sometimes used by the commensal fish Careproctus to hold its eggs.

Fisheries

The brown box crab has been fished in California since at least 1984. Take was minor and largely incidental until the mid 2010s, when landings by mass increased five-fold in 2017 relative to 2016 and remained above 20.5 t (45,000 lb) until 2023. In 2019, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife launched an experimental fishery for brown box crabs.

References

1. Stimpson, William (1859). "Notes on North American Crustacea, no. 1". Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York. 7 (11): 49–93.
2. ^ "Brown box crab, Lopholithodes formaminatus [sic]". Alaska Fisheries Science Center. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
3. Chevaldonné, Pierre; Olu, Karine (1996). Robbins, C. Brian (ed.). "Occurrence of anomuran crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) in hydrothermal vent and cold-seep communities: a review". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 109 (2): 286–298 – via the Biodiversity Heritage Library. PDF
4. ^ "Crab identification and soft-shell crab". Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
5. Peden, Alex E.; Corbett, Cathryn A. (1973). "Commensalism between a liparid fish, Careproctus sp., and the lithodid box crab, Lopholithodes foraminatus". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 51 (5): 555–556. doi:10.1139/z73-081.
6. ^ "MFDE: Landings By Value and Participation". California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
7. ^ Stroud, Ashley; Culver, Carolynn S.; Page, Henry M. (June 2024). "Size at maturity, reproductive cycle, and fecundity of the southern California brown box crab Lopholithodes foraminatus and implications for developing a new targeted fishery". Marine and Coastal Fisheries. 16 (3). doi:10.1002/mcf2.10291. Retrieved 12 June 2024.

External links

• [REDACTED] Media related to Echidnocerus foraminatus at Wikimedia Commons
• 3D model at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

v t e Lithodidae species
Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda Class Malacostraca Order Decapoda Suborder Pleocyemata Infraorder Anomura
Hapalogastrinae	Acantholithodes A. hispidus Dermaturus D. mandtii Hapalogaster H. cavicauda H. dentata H. grebnitzkii H. mertensii Oedignathus O. inermis Placetron P. wosnessenskii
Lithodinae	Cryptolithodes C. expansus C. sitchensis C. typicus Echidnocerus E. cibarius E. foraminatus Glyptolithodes G. cristatipes Lithodes L. aequispinus L. ahyongi L. aotearoa L. australiensis L. ceramensis L. chaddertoni L. confundens L. couesi L. ferox L. formosae L. galapagensis L. jessica L. longispina L. macquariae L. maja L. mamillifer L. manningi L. megacantha L. murrayi L. nintokuae L. panamensis L. paulayi L. rachelae L. richeri L. robertsoni L. santolla L. turkayi L. turritus L. unicornis L. wiracocha Neolithodes N. agassizii N. asperrimus N. brodiei N. bronwynae N. capensis N. diomedeae N. duhameli N. flindersi N. grimaldii N. indicus N. nipponensis N. vinogradovi N. yaldwyni Paralithodes P. brevipes P. bishuensis (†) P. californiensis P. camtschaticus P. platypus P. rathbuni Paralomis P. aculeata P. africana P. alcockiana P. alis P. anamerae P. arae P. arethusa P. aspera P. birsteini P. bouvieri P. ceres P. chilensis P. cristata P. cristulata P. cubensis P. danida P. dawsoni P. debodeorum (†) P. diomedeae P. dofleini P. echidna P. elongata P. erinacea P. formosa P. gowlettholmes P. granulosa P. grossmani P. haigae P. hirtella P. histrix P. hystrixoides P. inca P. indica P. investigatoris P. jamsteci P. japonica P. kyushupalauensis P. longidactylus P. longipes P. macphersoni P. makarovi P. manningi P. medipacifica P. mendagnai P. microps P. multispina P. nivosa P. ochthodes P. odawarai P. okitoriensis P. otsuae P. pacifica P. papillata P. papua P. pectinata P. phrixa P. poorei P. roeleveldae P. seagranti P. serrata P. sonne P. spectabilis P. spinosissima P. staplesi P. stella P. stevensi P. taylorae P. truncatispinosa P. tuberipes P. verrilli P. webberi P. zealandica Phyllolithodes P. papillosus Rhinolithodes R. wosnessenskii Sculptolithodes S. derjugini

• King crabs
• Crustaceans of the eastern Pacific Ocean
• Anomura of the Pacific Ocean
• Crustaceans described in 1860
• Taxa named by William Stimpson
• Fauna of Alaska
• Fauna of California
• Fauna of the Northwestern United States
• Fauna of British Columbia
• Fauna of Yukon