Rhithropanopeus harrisii (common names include the Zuiderzee crab,[2]dwarf crab,[2]estuarine mud crab,[3]Harris mud crab,[3]white-fingered mud crab,[4] and white-tipped mud crab) is a small omnivorous crab native to Atlantic coasts of the Americas, from New Brunswick to Veracruz.[2]
R. harrisii is usually found in brackish water, but can also be found in freshwater. It likes to live on stones and in oyster beds. The crab can reach a maximum size of 20 millimetres (0.8 in). It has an olive-green-brownish color, sometimes with dark spots on its carapace.
It is a common inhabitant of Texas and Florida estuaries, but was later introduced all over the world.[3] In 1937, it was discovered to be invading the San Francisco Bay's brackish waters and adjacent fresh waters of the California Central Valley.[3] It was also recently discovered in the Third Lock Lake in Panama, a man-made lake intended to be a part of the Panama Canal.[5]
R. harrisii was first discovered in Europe in the Zuider Zee, the Netherlands, and is now also found in Denmark, Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Estonia, Finland, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria, from the Black Sea and Caspian Sea.[2][6][7]
In the British Isles, R. harrisii has only been observed in Roath Docks, Cardiff, which have lower salinity (12‰) than the surrounding waters.
Breeding freshwater populations have been found in the Brazos River basin in Texas, notably the Possum Kingdom State Park and Lake Granbury. Populations have also been discovered in Lake Texoma and Lake E.V. Spence.[8] Its presence in the Baltic Sea is blamed for a negative ecosystem shift.[9]
A record of this species was made in Brazil, but might represent a misidentification.[10]
^ abP. K. L. Ng; D. Guinot & P. J. F. Davie (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 17: 1–286.
^ abcdC. Mettam & P. F. Clark. "Rhithropanopeus harrisii". Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
^ abcdHarriet Perry (April 24, 2006). "Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould, 1841)".
^"Introduced Crab Parasites Hijack Mud Crab Reproduction in Chesapeake Bay". Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. August 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
^Dominique G. Roche & Mark E. Torchin (2007). "Established population of the North American Harris mud crab, Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould 1841) (Crustacea: Brachyura: Xanthidae) in the Panama Canal" (PDF). Aquatic Invasions. 2 (3): 155–161. doi:10.3391/ai.2007.2.3.1.
^Joana Projecto-Garcia; Henrique Cabral; Christoph D. Schubart (2010). "High regional differentiation in a North American crab species throughout its native range and invaded European waters: a phylogeographic analysis". Biological Invasions. 12: 263–263. doi:10.1007/s10530-009-9447-y.
^Joanna Hegele-Drywa; Nicolas Thiercelin; Christoph D. Schubart; Monika Normant-Saremba (2015). "Genetic diversity of the non-native crab Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Brachyura: Panopeidae) in the Polish coastal waters− an example of patchy genetic diversity at a small geographic scale". Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies. 44 (3): 305–315. doi:10.1515/ohs-2015-0029.
^Terrence Boyle Jr.; Donald Keith & Russell Pfau (2010). "Occurrence, reproduction, and population genetics of the estuarine mud crab, Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould) (Decapoda, Panopidae) in Texas freshwater reservoirs". Crustaceana. 83 (4): 493–505. doi:10.1163/001121610X492148.
^Dominique G. Roche & Mark E. Torchin (2007). "Established population of the North American Harris mud crab, Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould 1841) (Crustacea: Brachyura: Xanthidae) in the Panama Canal" (PDF). Aquatic Invasions. 2 (3): 155–161. doi:10.3391/ai.2007.2.3.1.
several different species: Callinectes similis, the lesser blue crab Rhithropanopeus harrisii This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the...
River (Tuscany, Italy) as alien species hotspot: first data about Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Crustacea, Panopeidae)". Transitional Waters Bulletin. 9...
reduced by the herring population, and the North American mud crab Rhithropanopeus harrisii was inadvertently introduced during this attempt as well....
the Black Sea. Another example of invading species is the Dutch crab Rhithropanopeus harrisii which is observed both in saline and freshwater parts. Formerly...
Kuialnyk [uk] flows to the estuary. The fauna of the estuary consists of crabs Rhithropanopeus harrisii, shrimps Palaemon elegans, round goby Neogobius melanostomus...
food sources are recorded to be Corophium (so called “mud shrimp”) or Rhithropanopeus (so called “Harris mud crab”). They prefer rubble, man-made structures...
diet year round. Seasonal dietary additions include crabs such as Rhithropanopeus harrisii, sea weed such as Zostera marina, and amphipods such as Marinogammarus...