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The red king crab is the most coveted of the commercially sold king crab species, and it is the most expensive per unit weight. It is most commonly caught in the Bering Sea and Norton Sound , Alaska, and is particularly difficult to catch, but is nonetheless one of the most preferred crabs for consumption.
In Alaska, three species of king crab are caught commercially: the red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus, found in Bristol Bay, Norton Sound, and the Kodiak Archipelago), blue king crab (Paralithodes platypus, St. Matthew Island and the Pribilof Islands), and golden king crab (Lithodes aequispinus, Aleutian Islands).
The phylogeny of king crabs as hermit crabs who underwent secondary calcification and left their shell has been suspected since the late 1800s. [4] They are believed to have originated during the Early Miocene in shallow North Pacific waters, where most king crab genera – including all Hapalogastrinae – are distributed and where they exhibit a high amount of morphological diversity.
Additionally, a second, separate population exists in the Norton Sound all the way to St. Lawrence Island. [4] Blue king crabs have a more northerly distribution compared to red king crabs, which is due to the colder waters of the northern Bering Sea being suitable for blue king crabs to survive.
Paralithodes is a genus of king crabs native to cold waters in the North Pacific Ocean, Okhotsk Sea, Bering Sea and Sea of Japan, but with one species also introduced to far northern Europe. They are medium-large to very large king crabs, and some species are important to commercial fisheries . [ 1 ]
Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change.
The Bering Sea is world-renowned for its productive and profitable fisheries, such as king crab, [28] opilio and tanner crabs, Bristol Bay salmon, pollock and other groundfish. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] These fisheries rely on the productivity of the Bering Sea via a complicated and little understood food web.
Neolithodes grimaldii, the porcupine crab, [2] is a species of king crab in the family Lithodidae. This large red crab is found in cold deep waters in the North Atlantic and often caught as a bycatch in fisheries for Greenland turbot (Greenland halibut). As suggested by its common name, the carapace and legs are covered in long spines.