''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 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 ...

of king crab, found off southern South America including the Falklands/Malvinas. On the Pacific side, it is found in Chile from Valdivia 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 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 length. The lucrative centolla fishery around Tierra del Fuego led to an incident in August 1967 when the Argentine schooner ' was found fishing from Gable 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.

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* {{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