''Lithodes santolla'', also known as the southern king crab, king crab or centolla, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 the appropriat ...

king crab King crabs are a taxon of decapod crustaceans chiefly found in cold seas. Because of their large size and the taste of their meat, many species are widely caught and sold as food, the most common being the red king crab (''Paralithodes camtsch ...

, found off southern South America including the Falklands/Malvinas. On the Pacific side, it is found in Chile from

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Ca ...

at around 40° S to

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

at 60° S. On the Atlantic side, it is found off Argentina.It lives in the

benthic zone The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning " ...

at depths of . In Chile, it mostly lives at depths to , but south of 40° S it has been found at . It is a large crab that can reach up to in

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 unde ...

length. The lucrative centolla fishery around

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

led to an incident in August 1967 when the Argentine

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

' was found fishing from

Gable Island Gable Island ( es, Isla Gable) is an Argentine island part of Tierra del Fuego Province. The island is located on the northern side of east–west Beagle Channel less than from Tierra del Fuego Island and about from Chilean Navarino Island. ...

and had to be escorted out of Chilean waters by the Chilean patrol boat '. This event among many others led to the Beagle crisis in the late 1970s. The United States

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

lists the centolla crab and southern king crab as two separate species: ''Lithodes antarcticus'' and ''Lithodes santolla'' respectively. Other sources consider ''Lithodes antarcticus'' to be a synonym of ''Lithodes santolla''. A study has found that ''L. santolla'' is capable of withstanding long periods of aerial exposure with no detrimental effect on crab survival, opening the possibility of commercializing ''L. santolla'' in the attractive live seafood market.Urbina, M.A., Paschke, K., Gebauer, P., Cumillaf, J.P., Rosas, C. 2013. Physiological responses of the southern king crab, Lithodes santolla (Decapoda: Lithodidae), to aerial exposure. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology A, 166(4), 538-545.

References

External links

* {{Authority control King crabs Crustaceans of the eastern Pacific Ocean Western South American coastal fauna Crustaceans described in 1782 Invertebrates of Argentina Invertebrates of Chile Fauna of Tierra del Fuego