Majidae

A Dictionary of Zoology

Majidae (spider crabs; class Malacostraca, order Decapoda) Family comprising slow-moving, marine crabs, whose carapace is longer than it is wide. The chelipeds are usually not much longer than the other pereopods, and the body and appendages are equipped with hooked setae for the attachment of camouflage derived from pieces of seaweed, sponges, hydrozoans, bryozoans, and ascidian colonies. Some species lie among the spines of sea urchins and the tentacles of anthozoans, from which they derive a degree of protection.

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© A Dictionary of Zoology 1999, originally published by Oxford University Press 1999.

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Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

	spider crabs spider crabs See MAJIDAE . Read more
	spider crab spi·der crab • n. a crab ( Macropodia and other genera, Majidae and other families) with long thin legs and a compact pear-shaped body, which is camouflaged in some kinds by attached sponges and seaweed. Read more
	crabs crabs 1. See CRUSTACEA ; DECAPODA ; CANCRIDAE . 2. (hermit crabs) See PAGURIDAE . 3. (land crabs) See GECARCINIDAE . 4. (mud crabs) See XANTHIDAE . 5. (spider crabs) See MAJIDAE . 6. (stone crab, Menippe mercenaria ) See XANTHIDAE . 7. (swimming crabs) See PORTUNIDAE . Read more
	spider crab Any species of sluggish marine crab in the widely distributed family Majidae (or Maiidae). Spider crabs have a beak-shaped head; thick, rounded body; and long, spindly legs. They use a mucuslike mouth secretion... Read more

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