Atlantic Rock Crab
Cancer irroratus
They are often confused with Jonah crabs, but the Rock Crab is distinguished by its smoother shell edge with nine shallow teeth on either side of the eyes.
- Scientific name
- Cancer irroratus
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Malacostraca › Decapoda › Cancridae › Cancer
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- aquatic
- Habitat
- Rocky intertidal zones, sandy bottoms, and kelp forests up to 600 meters deep.
- Diet
- Opportunistic scavenger and predator; consumes mussels, snails, sea urchins, and polychaete worms.
- Range
- Northwest Atlantic Coast, Canada, United States, Iceland
- Size
- Carapace width up to 15 cm
- Lifespan
- 5-8 years
- Active
- nocturnal
- Threats
- Commercial harvesting, heavy predation by cod and gulls, and ocean acidification affecting shell calcification.
- Safe to approach?
- Generally harmless but will pinch defensively if handled. Observe from a distance. If pinched, remain calm and place the crab back into the water to encourage it to release; wash any skin breaks thoroughly.
Cancer irroratus (common name the Atlantic rock crab or peekytoe crab ) is a crab in the genus Cancer . It is found from Iceland to South Carolina at depths up to 2,600 ft (790 m), and reaches 133 mm (5.2 in) across the carapace.
Photo: Leïla Brunner, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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