Species Hemigrapsus sanguineus (De Haan, 1835)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Grapsus (Grapsus) sanguineus De Haan, W. 1835. Crustacea. 1-243 pls A-J, L-Q, 1-55, circ. tab. 2 in Von Siebold, P.F. (ed.). Fauna Japonica sive Descriptio Animalium, quae in Itinere per Japoniam, Jussu et Auspiciis Superiorum, qui Summum in India Batava Imperium Tenent, Suscepto, Annis 1823–1830 Collegit, Notis, Observationibus et Adumbrationibus Illustravit. Leiden : Lugundi-Batavorum. [58].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown, Japan.
• Heterograpsus maculatus Milne Edwards, H. 1853. Mémoires sur la famille des Ocypodiens, suite. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Paris Zoology 3 20: 163-228 pls 6-11 [193] [subjective synonym].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, MNHNP (possibly lost), Polynesia.

 

Generic Combinations

• Hemigrapsus sanguineus (De Haan, 1835).

 

Introduction

The Asian shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, is native to coastal and estuarine habitat along the east coast of Asia. The species was first observed in North America near Delaware Bay (39°N, 75°W) in 1988, and a variety of evidence suggests initial introduction via ballast water early in that decade. The crab spread rapidly after its discovery, and breeding populations currently extend from North Carolina to Maine (35°–45°N). is now the dominant crab in rocky intertidal habitat along much of the northeast coast of the USA and has displaced resident crab species throughout this region. The Asian shore crab also occurs on the Atlantic coast of Europe since 1999. Invasive populations now extend along 1000 km of coastline from France to Lower Saxony in Germany (48°– 53°N). Success of the Asian shore crab in alien habitats has been ascribed to factors such as high fecundity, superior competition for space and food, release from parasitism, and direct predation on co-occurring crab species. The species was first reported from Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia in 2020 and is now common (https://www.marinepests.gov.au/pests/identify/asian-shore-crab).

 

Distribution

States

Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Native to the northwest Pacific (from Sakhalin, Russia, through China to Hong Kong, Korea and Japan). Introduced to Atlantic North America and Europe. Confined to Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, in Australia

Introduced from Asia.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IMCRA

Bass Strait Shelf Province (35)

General References

Epifano, C.E. 2013. Invasion biology of the Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus: a review. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 441: 33-49

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
	CRUSTACEA Brünnich, 1772	16-Jan-2025	ADDED	Dr Gary Poore