Meaning of swimming crab | Babel Free

Definitions

Any of many marine crabs of the family Portunidae, whose hindmost legs are flattened into paddles.

Equivalents

Examples

“In normal years, swimming crabs do not occur in the Humboldt Current area south of Paita (5°S) but are restricted to the extreme north of Perú, Ecuador and Colombia.”

“Numerous species of crabs occur on the soft sediments between reefs, particularly swimming crabs of the genera Charybdis and Portunus. Among these is the edible blue swimming crab, Portunus armatus (previously known as P. pelagicus) (Fig. 23.4J) and mud crab, Scylla serrata (Fig. 23.4G).”

“The majority of true crabs are aquatic, or at least virtually so. These include swimming crabs in which the last pair of walking legs end, not in claws, but in paddles.”

CEFR level