Intertidal Invertebrates of the Monterey Bay Area, California

Compiled & photographed by Gary McDonald, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz
Metacarcinus gracilis Dana, 1852
Graceful Rock Crab
Arthropoda: Crustacea: Malacostraca: Eumalacostraca: Eucarida: Decapoda: Pleocyemata: Brachyura: Cancroidea: Cancridae
Geographic Range: Prince William Sound, AK to Playa Maria Bay, Baja California, Mexico. Synonyms: Cancer gracilis
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Metacarcinus_gracilis_slide_001.jpg
Moss Landing, Monterey Co., CA; 24Apr 1974; 26mm width.

Description: Upper surface brownish to gray, lower surface and much of legs yellowish; purple marks on anterior ambulatory legs. Tips of chelipeds white.The carapace has 10 anterolateral teeth and is widest at the 9th tooth; 10th tooth small..

Size: Males to 91mm carapace width, females to 64mm.

Notes: Found in the low intertidal in bays, and subtidal to 174 meters. Mostly subtidal in the Monterey Bay area.

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