Fishery-resource
Guides
Achelous
Achelous is a genus of swimming crabs in the family Portunidae, established by De Haan in 1833. These marine brachyuran crabs are characterized by their flattened, streamlined bodies and modified fifth pereiopods adapted for swimming. The genus includes commercially significant species such as A. spinimanus, a fishery resource in southeastern Brazil, and A. hastatus, distributed across the Atlantic-Mediterranean region. Species within this genus exhibit habitat preferences related to sediment type and depth, with some showing age and sexual segregation patterns typical of portunid crabs.
Achelous spinimanus
Blotched Swimming Crab
Achelous spinimanus is a swimming crab native to the Western Atlantic, ranging from the USA to Brazil. It inhabits coastal marine environments from shallow waters to 90 m depth, with distinct depth preferences between life stages: juveniles occur at 5–35 m while adults are most abundant at 25 m and range to 40 m. The species exhibits continuous year-round reproduction with ovigerous females present in all seasons, and shows seasonal migration patterns in response to water temperature and salinity changes. It is an emerging fishery resource in Brazil, where it has become a target species following declines in more traditional catches.
Munididae
Munidid Squat Lobsters
Munididae is a family of squat lobsters (Decapoda: Anomura) taxonomically separated from Galatheidae in 2010. Members are predominantly deep-water taxa distinguished by a trispinose frontal edge to the carapace, a central rostrum, and two spines extending forward from above the eyes. The family exhibits substantial cryptic diversity, with species often distinguishable only by subtle morphological differences in telson shape and pereopod dactyli. Reproductive strategies vary, with Munididae typically producing numerous small eggs compared to related families.