Maja squinado
species of crustacean
Maja squinado (the European spider crab, spiny spider crab or spinous spider crab) is a species of migratory crab found in the Mediterranean Sea. The appearance of the European spider crab is similar to the much larger Japanese spider crab, although the European spider crab belongs to the family Majidae, and the Japanese spider crab belongs to a different family of crabs, the Macrocheiridae.
Taxonomy
A review of the species complex around M. squinado was able to differentiate between specimens from the Mediterranean Sea and those from the Atlantic, and concluded that the Atlantic specimens were a separate species, called Maja brachydactyla Balss, 1922. The specific epithet squinado derives from the Provençal name for the species – squinado, esquinade, esquinado or esquinadoun — recorded by Rondelet as early as 1554.
Young
The young of M. squinado are slightly longer than 1mm after hatching, and weigh approximately 0.12 mg at this time. Within 4–8 days, the larva molts numerous times, finally ending with morphological changes that presumably include the further development and increase in size of the cephalothorax. In a second phase, the Carapace grows to a length of approx. 2mm, and weighs approx. 0.3 mg.
The larva then undergoes metamorphosis to the first juvenile instar, and changes its planktonic life to a benthic one (living on the sea floor).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Maja squinado” as species of crustacean. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of crustacean. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2233169. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1922 and 1554.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Maja squinado” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.