''Macropodia tenuirostris'', also known as the slender spider crab, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

crab in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Inachidae.

Description

Adult ''M. tenuirostris'' reach a

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the und ...

breadth of 11 millimeters, and a carapace length of 16 to 32 millimeters. The carapace is

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelate ...

in color and triangular in shape. Its surface is smooth to slightly coarse. The frontal region − its rostrum − is thick, long, very narrow, slightly bent upwards, and contains numerous hook-setae. From a dorsal view, the eyestalks are clearly visible. Aside from the chelipeds, large in males and slender in females, the limbs are long and thin, with the

dactylus The dactylus is the tip region of the tentacular club of cephalopods and of the leg of some crustaceans (see arthropod leg). In cephalopods, the dactylus is narrow and often characterized by the asymmetrical placement of suckers (i.e., the ven ...

of the fourth and fifth legs fairly bent.

Ecology and biology

The slender spider crab is a free living, solitary, epibenthic, and gonochoristic omnivore. It has a life span of 3 to 5 years, with the duration of the larval development of 11 to 30 days. It can be found in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

an waters, from the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, most commonly around the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...

. It usually occurs in waters 9–97 meters deep, on muddy to hard substrata, or in

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environme ...

. However, it can occasionally be found at depths down to 300 meters, on

Sertularella ''Sertularella'' is a genus of hydroids in the family Sertulariidae. Species The following species are classed in this genus: *'' Sertularella acutidentata'' Billard, 1919 *'' Sertularella africana'' Stechow, 1919 *'' Sertularella agulhenis ...

colonies.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2282333 Majoidea Crustaceans described in 1814