General Description
Carapace wider than long, dorsal surface with few or many setae, becoming a dense band of long setae marginally and extending on to front and sides of carapace. Eyes embedded in orbits, moveable, cornea well formed. Anterolateral margins of carapace divided by notches into lobes. Dark dirty grey. Up to 2.5 cm wide.
Biology
Hairy crabs of the family Pilumnidae are slow-moving crabs more or less covered with a mat of hairs or velvet and often appearing dirty because of the mud trapped on the hairs. Bearded crabs are a commonly encountered pilumnid in dredge samples in Port Phillip and Western Port in Victoria. Unlike other pilumnids there are few hairs dorsally.
Distribution
Southern temperate oceans, including south-eastern Australia.
Habitat
Common under rocks and rubble on sheltered reefs, and in mussel clumps on muddy sandflats, to 70 m depth.
More Information
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Animal Type
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Animal SubType
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Brief Id
Small crab with distinctive dark grey fringe of long hairs along the front of the carapace and along the margins of the legs; carapace lobed on its sides. Dark dirty grey.
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Maximum Size
25 mm
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Habitats
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Diet
Organic matter
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Hazards
Not harmful but a nip from large claws could be painful
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Endemicity
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Commercial
No
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Conservation Statuses
DSE Advisory List: Not listed, EPBC Act 1999: Not listed, IUCN Red List: Not listed
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Depths
Shore (0-1 m), Shallow (1-30 m), Deep ( > 30 m)
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Water Column Locations
On or near seafloor
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Taxon Name
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Scientific Author
(Milne Edwards, 1834)
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Common Name
Bearded Crab
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Phylum
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Subphylum
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Superclass
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Class
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Subclass
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Superorder
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Order
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Suborder
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Infraorder
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Family
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Subfamily
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Genus
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Species Name
fimbriatus
