Crab
| Crab Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Top row, left to right: Dromia personata (Dromiidae), Dungeness crab (Cancridae), Tasmanian giant crab (Menippidae); Middle row: Corystes cassivelaunus (Corystidae), Liocarcinus vernalis (Portunidae), Carpilius maculatus (Carpiliidae); Bottom row: Gecarcinus quadratus (Gecarcinidae), Grapsus grapsus (Grapsidae), Ocypode ceratophthalmus (Ocypodidae). | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| (unranked): | Reptantia |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Sections and subsections | |
| |
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the thorax (brachyura means "short tail" in Greek). They live in all the world's oceans, in freshwater, and on land, are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton, and have a single pair of pincers on each arm. They first appeared during the Jurassic Period.
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