Show Us Yours, mid-January topic: Decapoda (crabs, shrimps, lobsters)

Because this topic tied with All White Animals, Susanne and LeeAnn were nice enough to allow me to start this topic as a 'mid-month' SUY.

Our topic is Decapoda, the order of crustaceans that includes crabs, shrimp, lobsters, crayfish, and related.

I obviously have many to contribute here. I will not be bombarding this thread at once, instead I will add to it as I update/take new photos of my collection. I will get it started with two species for now:

1. The Japanese crayfish, Cambaroides japonicus (De Haan, 1841). This species is endemic to Japan where it is considered vulnerable. This species is rather popular among Japanese manufacturers, and is often made in both brown and blue color variants:

above water, left to right:
1. Kaiyodo (Capsule Q Animatales - Tohoku)
2. F-toys (Creatures of the Waterside)
3. Kaiyodo (Natural Monuments of Japan)
4. F-toys (Creatures of the Waterside) [blue variant]

below water, left to right:
1. Kaiyodo (Capsule Q Animatales - Tohoku) [blue variant]
2. Kaiyodo (Natural Monuments of Japan) [blue variant - Special Release]
3. Yujin (Shrimps and Crabs Collection)

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2. The mud crab (also known as a mangrove crab or black crab), Scylla serrata (Forsskal, 1775). This is an economically-important 'food' crab native to mangroves and estuaries in the Indo-Pacific [my mini diorama here might not be the best for this species, but it's currently the only marine one I have]. The figure on the left is a 'small' one by AAA (they also made a much larger model); the one on the right is by Kaiyodo (Aquatales Polyresin Series).

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I received yesterday, back, the few arthropods I own but there isn't a single decapod on it. However, I love these taxa topics and I will follow enthusiastically what will be presented here. I am glad you opened this thread.

3. The coconut crab, Birgus latro (Linnaeus, 1767). The coconut crab is the largest terrestrial arthropod. It is a kind of hermit crab (but only their young utilize an abandoned mollusk shell for protection). It occurs on many islands throughout the Indian and South Pacific Oceans, including Japan. It is sometimes eaten for food but can be poisonous depending on its diet and seasonality.

1. Yujin (Shrimps and Crabs Collection)
2. Colorata (Yanbaru Creatures)
3. Kaiyodo (Okinawa Collection)
4. Epoch (Poisonous Creatures)

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Fantastic dioramas ! And wonderful models

A interesting SUY with a phantastic start :)

Nothing funny about crabs.
.....Or is there?

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Box crab made by Kaiyodo

Great topic! Wouldn't have known there were so many coconut crabs and Japanese crayfish, but perhaps the latter shouldn't be surprising given the country's propensity for beautiful miniatures. Speaking of, I only have one decapod:


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Eryon cf. cuvieri, a crustacean known from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen limestone of Germany. This one was made by Kaiyodo for Series 4 of the Dinotales line.

Wow

Bloodrayne: Ha, very funny.
Halichoeres, thanks for the contribution!

4. Today we visit the march of the long-armed soldier crabs, genus Mictyris. These crabs are endemic to the Indo-West Pacific region and are known for their large congregations. There are two species in toy/figure form. In the front of my image is M. brevidactylus Stimpson, 1858 by Kaiyodo (Capsule Q Museum - Japanese Crabs Collection). In the back, from left to right, are M. longicarpus (Latreille, 1806) by Wing Mau (Aquatic Museum), Cadbury (Yowies - Australian Series), and Epoch, respectively. The large base is made of six pieces from the Wing Mau set.

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Never seen before

Classy Classic Crabs!

Today we visit some classic figures from one of the most popular brands by toy animal collectors, Play Visions. PV figures are generally much sought-after and can sometimes be quite expensive.

center: Sally lightfoot crab, Grapsus grapsus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Galapagos Island Wildlife set.

clockwise from top [all from the Habitat Earth: Crabs set]:

1. blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896
2. fiddler crab, gen. sp.
3. giant Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi (Temmink, 1836)
4. purple globe crab, Randallia ornata (Randall, 1840)
5. helmet crab, Telmessus cheiragonus (Tilesius, 1812)
6. 'pear crab' [the identity of this figure is still a mystery!]
7. Alaskan king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815)
8. striped shore crab, Pachygrapsus crassipes (Randall, 1840)

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I found knock offs of that set (long before i know PV) in a small sbop of Gran Canaria :)

They are so lovely

widukind wrote:

I found knock offs of that set (long before i know PV) in a small sbop of Gran Canaria :)

yes Andreas, I meant to mention the knock-offs but forgot, thanks for bringing it to our attention. Interesting that the 'knock-off' set also includes a hermit crab, which is not present here. I think PEC made a similar set; are there 3? PV, PEC, and a generic knock-off set?

Bottlecap Beauties! Capsule Crustaceans!

Today we take a brief look at the decapods produced by Kaiyodo for various bottlecap series. Many of these were released for various aquariums in Japan. They were usually parts of sets that included all kinds of marine/aquatic animals. Most of the sets included at least one crustacean (there are a couple non-decapods as well, not shown here).

back row, left to right:
1. blue swimmer crab, Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Enoshima Aquarium)
2. spiny lobster, Panulirus brunneiflagellum Sekiguchi and George, 2005 (Sumida Aquarium)
3. horsehair crab, Erimacrus isenbeckii (Brandt, 1848) [unknown series]
4. Japanese spiny lobster, Panulirus japonicus von Siebold, 1824 (Enoshima Aquarium)
5. red frog crab, Ranina ranina (Linnaeus, 1758) (Shingawa Aquarium)
6. long-legged spiny lobster, Panulirus longipes (Milne-Edwards, 1868) (Enoshima Aquarium)
7. box crab, Calappa lophos (Herbst, 1792) (Aquatales)

bottom row, left to right:
1. Tasmanian giant crab, Pseudocarcinus gigas (Lamarck, 1819) (Shinagawa Aquarium)
2. Alaskan king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius,1815) (Hokkaido Figure Winter Version)
3. freshwater crab, Geothelphusa dehanni (White, 1847) (Birdtales)
4. Japanese tiger prawn, Penaeus (=Marsupenaeus) japonicus Spence Bate, 1888 (Enoshima Aquarium)
5. Maine lobster, Homarus americanus Milne-Edwards, 1837 (Enoshima Aquarium)

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bmathison1972 wrote:

widukind wrote:

I found knock offs of that set (long before i know PV) in a small sbop of Gran Canaria :)

yes Andreas, I meant to mention the knock-offs but forgot, thanks for bringing it to our attention. Interesting that the 'knock-off' set also includes a hermit crab, which is not present here. I think PEC made a similar set; are there 3? PV, PEC, and a generic knock-off set?

Sorry, i dont know

Wonderful Kaiyodo crabs!!!!

bmathison1972 wrote:

widukind wrote:

I found knock offs of that set (long before i know PV) in a small sbop of Gran Canaria :)

yes Andreas, I meant to mention the knock-offs but forgot, thanks for bringing it to our attention. Interesting that the 'knock-off' set also includes a hermit crab, which is not present here. I think PEC made a similar set; are there 3? PV, PEC, and a generic knock-off set?

Some of the PEC crabs are already on TAI and you can see them here!

Unique Decapods!

Today's post will focus on 'unique' species; i.e. species that are represented by only one example in toy/model/figure form. This post today does not include some species previously shown in this thread (e.g., some of the Play Visions crabs are unique) or examples from speciose genera (e.g., Panulirus, Portunus) that will probabaly be covered in more detail later. It also focuses on smaller figures (e.g., tube/TOOB or gashapon-sized figures).

It is not all-inclusive, but rather a sampling:

Back (elevated) row, left to right:
1. scarlet cleaner shrimp, Lysmata debelius Bruce, 1893 (Koro Koro - Toba Aquarium)
2. mud-flat crab, Chasmagnathus convexus (De Haan, 1835) (Wing Mau - Aquatic Museum) EDIT 2/7/2018: I just realized I photographed the wrong figure - LOL - this is a red-claw crab! I will image a correct one for a complete Wing Mau set (previously reviewed here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
3. hydrothermal vent squat lobster, Shinkaia crosnieri Baba and Williams, 1998 (Colorata - Deep Sea Creatures)
4. Yunohana crab, Galdalfus yunohana (Takeda, Hashimoto, and Ohta, 2000) (Colorata - Deep Sea Creatures)
5. Tasmanian giant crab, Pseudocarcinus gigas (Lamarck, 1818) (Kaiyodo - Shinagawa Aquarium)

Second row, left to right:
1. samurai crab, Heikeopsis japonica (von Siebold, 1824) (Kaiyodo - Capsule Q Museum: Japanese Crabs Collection)
2. batwing coral crab, Carpilius corallinus (Herbst, 1783) (K&M International - Coral Reef Nature Tube)
3. Pulalius sp. (Safari LTD - Ancient Fossils TOOB)

Third row, left to right:
1. sponge crab, Stimdromia lateralis (Gray, 1831) (Cadbury - Yowies, Australian series)
2. red egg crab, Atergatis integerrimus (Lamarck, 1818) (Koro Koro - Toba Aquarium)
3. floral egg crab, Atergatis floridus (Linnaeus, 1767) (Epoch - The Poison)
4. harlequin shrimp, Hymenocera picta Dana, 1852 (Epoch)

Bottom row, left to right:
1. box lobster, Linuparus trigonus (von Siebold, 1824) (Kaiyodo - Choco Q Animatales)
2. Mexican dwarf crayfish, Cambarellus patzcuarensis Villalobos, 1943 (Banjihan ACE) [this was in a set of six, same sculpt but different color variants, but considered unique here since I am unaware of other sculpts]
3. lake prawn, Palaemon paucidens de Haan, 1844 (Yujin - Shrimps and Crabs Collection)

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Phantastic!!

One reason PV was such a gem, even if figures were sometimes stylized, is that for a set like this they actually had a different mold for each crab. It's easy to imagine a lazier company just repainting 2 or 3 molds.

Anyway, gorgeous assortment overall! I would not have guessed that so many species had figures available. I do hope you're a TAI editor!

Simone, I like your stand-up crab.

Blaine, you have beautiful figures and useful info. Your previous pictures on the ATF helped me know what to look for when trying to add to my own decapod group- I will have to make some pictures and share them here.

I once tried in vain to identify the Habitat Earth "pear crab". I think the closest I could come was the sandflat elbow crab Heterocrypta occidentalis . The carapace shape isn't the same (it almost seems reversed) but it does have white spots and the two little "V" shapes on top.

Nice topic! I love that diorama with the underwater scene, what a fantastic idea!
I have only one crab, I don't know what species it is as I know almost nothing about crabs. It's from Kitan and I like it a lot!

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Ana wrote:

Nice topic! I love that diorama with the underwater scene, what a fantastic idea!
I have only one crab, I don't know what species it is as I know almost nothing about crabs. It's from Kitan and I like it a lot!

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Hi Anna,

This is the freshwater crab, Geothelphusa dehanni, by Kitan Club Nature of Japan Volume 2.

Nice crab Anna :)