#4478 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans

Vernal Crab

🇳🇱 Grijze zwemkrab ·Polybius vernalis

🦀 Crabs & other crustaceans 📍 in the Netherlands

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © cccrll · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Rino · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Rino · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Dimitris Siskopoulos · CC BY-SA 4.0
5. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © Pascal GIRARD · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. © Holger Krisp · CC BY-NC 4.0
10. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

Polybius vernalis , the grey swimming crab , is a small, shallow-water crab in the family Portunidae. P. vernalis was thought for a long time to be a predominantly Mediterranean species, but its known range was extended by a series of observations in the 1980s and 1990s. It ranges from West Africa to the southern North Sea.

base stats

NL sightings 18iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 833iNaturalist observations

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

Spotted 18 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #44 most seen of the crabs & other crustaceans in NL.
833 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.