#4515 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans
Spiny Spider Crab
🇳🇱 Atlantische grote spinkrab ·Maja brachydactyla
🦀 Crabs & other crustaceans 📍 in Europe, not in NL
📍 Tréhénette
📍 Mid-Waterford Coast SPA, Annestown, Co. Waterford, IE
📍 Tralee Bay and Magharees Peninsula West to Cloghane SAC, Castlegregory, Co. Kerry, IE
📍 Pintens, Pontevedra, España
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Bernard Picton · CC BY 4.0
- 2. © Gonzalo Mucientes Sandoval · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Marian Oliver · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Francois Jordaan · CC BY 4.0
- 5. © Butor and Gogol · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Aurélien Bour · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. Tréhénette:© kristobal22 · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. Mid-Waterford Coast SPA, Annestown, Co. Waterford, IE:© rockeater · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. Tralee Bay and Magharees Peninsula West to Cloghane SAC, Castlegregory, Co. Kerry, IE:© Vitek Jirinec · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. Pintens, Pontevedra, España:© Jose Manuel · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Maja squinado (the European spider crab , spiny spider crab or spinous spider crab ) is a species of migratory crab found in the north-east Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 3,475 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Heinrich Balss in 1922 (104 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Spiny Spider Crab
- Nederlands
- Atlantische grote spinkrab
- scientific name
- Maja brachydactyla
- class
- Malacostraca
- order
- Decapoda
- family
- Majidae
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 2,905
- sightings worldwide
- 3,475
- GBIF records in NL
- 40
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1922 by Heinrich Balss
relatives· Majidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 447552, Wikidata Q1885533, GBIF 5729741, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.