Crustacean · crab

Snow crab

Chionoecetes opilio

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic Found in 3 oceans

Depth

From 4 to 1,400 m, mostly between 100 and 300 m

Size

Carapace up to about 14 cm wide

Diet

Marine worms, crabs, amphipods, brittle stars, shellfish

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• It lives on seafloors where the water stays between 0 and 5 °C all year round.
• Between 2018 and 2021, more than 10 billion snow crabs disappeared from the Bering Sea. The most likely cause is starvation, after a marine heatwave.
• Its food needs almost double when the water goes from 0 to 3 °C.
• It arrived in the Barents Sea in the 1990s and now breeds there.

Verified sources

1. SeaLifeBase : Chionoecetes opilio
2. NOAA Fisheries : Research confirms link between snow crab decline and marine heatwave
3. Alvsvåg et al. 2009, Evidence for a permanent establishment of the snow crab in the Barents Sea
4. Divine 2019, Trophic dynamics of snow crabs in the Alaskan Arctic (University of Alaska Fairbanks)

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

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