black sea red data book - Department of Biology

October. Fertility low in comparison with marine crabs: each female contains not
more than 200 eggs. Young appear after 1-2 days from the roe on the female's
pleopods. They remain under the female pleon for the first 5-7 days, where they feed
and grow. At a size of 3.6 mm they gradually adopt an independent mode of life.
Population trends. Since the mid 1970s there has been a tendency towards a decline
in abundance and range in Ukraine (south coast of the Crimea); some biotopes have
disappeared, others are endangered.
Threats. Habitat destruction by river-bed régularisation and reservoir building,
surface flow withdrawal for water-supply systems, pollution by raw sewage.
Sometimes crabs are caught for human consumption or by aquariumists.
Conservation measures taken. The species is listed in the Red Data Book of
Ukraine.
Conservation measures proposed. Compile a complete inventory of all locations;
monitor populations; create special reservations.
References
Czemiavsky, V., 1884. Materialia ad Zoographiam Ponticam Comparatam. FascH.
Crustacea Decapoda Littoraliam. (Proceedings on the Comparative Zoography of the
Black Sea. Vol.2 Coastal Decapod Crustaceans). Khar'kov, Universitetskaya
tipographia: 268 pp. (in Latin).
Krivokhizhin, S. V. & T. V. Krivokhizhina, 1988. K izucheniyu biologii
presnovodnogo kraba, Potamon tauricum Czemiavsky 1884, v Krymu. (Iinvestigation
of the biology of the freshwater crab Potamon tauricum Czemiavsky, 1884, in the
Crimea). In The Study of Crimean Ecosystems for their Conservation. Kiev, UMK
VO: 64-69 pp. (in Russian).
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