#2814 - Ranina ranina - Spanner Crab
AKA as the Red Frog Crab, and Huỳnh Đế crab ('Emperor Crab'), Cancer ranina , Hippa scabra and four other species of Ranina that are now considered synonyms. They really are red in life.
A fairly-known species on the subtropical east coast of Australia, but it also has populations around the Indian Ocean, and around SE Asia.
They bury themselves on sandy seafloors down to below 100m depth, where they prey on bottom-dwelling fish, and are active at night.
Widely caught for food, and highly regarded as such. Although Ranina ranina is a target of commercial fishing, little is known about the species' biology, population dynamics or ecology, and attempts at captive breeding have been mostly unsuccesful.
Otago Museum, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand.
















