[Dungeness] Crab, large (AAA)

[brontodocus]

Walk-around of the big AAA Dungeness Crab, Metacarcinus magister (Dana, 1852), cast from an actual specimen. Carapace length 103 mm, width 177 mm. It's stamped simply "CRAB" underneath but it clearly is a Dungeness Crab.















Edit 2017-02-06: Fixed broken image urls.

[Varanus]

That one's great!  Got me thinking though, casting these complex inverts must been a huge pain!

[Jetoar]

Wonderful reply and post  . I think that you pust this figure into the water, is very possible that the people will think that he is a real animal  .

[tyrantqueen]

This is gorgeous, the details are very precise

[dinocat62]

Just got one of these from Veghead along with a smaller one, perhaps Ovalipes trimaculatus, a Rowing Crab? Plus a Dangle Fish.

[brontodocus]

Hmmm I'm not aware of an AAA Crab that looks like Ovalipes... well, there are so many AAA figures I've probably never seen, anyway, so it could be well possible. I do know about a mini version of the Dungeness Crab, several versions of the Crucifix Crab, Charybdis feriatus, and at least one figure that matches Scylla serrata in the number of anterolateral and interocular spines on the carapace. And you can't go wrong with the Dangle Fish, it's such a weird one!

[dinocat62]

Yes, after further research, I realize it's not an Ovalipes crab. Looks like a Blue Crab or something similar. It has long lateral spines and compressed 5th pair of legs.

[brontodocus]

The compressed 5th pair of legs doesn't help too much here, it's a key character for Portunidae and most species within the family have this flattened last pereopod. Strong lateral spines like in the Blue Crab seems a good character to identify it further than that, I can imagine Callinectes and Portunus. You could post a photo in the species identification thread. I think the chances for identifying your crab are quite good (the entire anterior margin of the carapace should be in focus to allow counting anteriolateral denticles)!

[dinocat62]

Photo posted on Species ID thread. I look forward to your comments. Thanks!

[brontodocus]

Fixed broken image urls of AAA large Dungeness Crab.