Brown Box Crab

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.

From Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Is it venomous or poisonous?

We have no record of Brown Box Crab being toxic, poisonous or venomous. That is not proof that it is safe. Never eat, touch or handle a wild plant, mushroom or animal on the strength of an identification; ask someone qualified.

Easily confused with

• Loxorhynchus crispatus
• Paralithodes camtschaticus
• Schizophrys aspera
• Phyllolithodes papillosus
• Maja brachydactyla
• Lithodes maja

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Malacostraca

Order

Decapoda

Family

Lithodidae

Genus

Echidnocerus

Species

Echidnocerus foraminatus

More species