portunid

portunid (plural portunids)

1. Any crab of the family Portunidae; a swimming crab.
   • 1988, Eugene H. Kaplan, Peterson Field Guides: Southeastern and Caribbean Seashores, page 25,

     As you wade about, watch for the rapidly swimming portunid crabs that abound in sandy shallows. The king of portunids is the Common Blue Crab (Fig. 133, p. 321), an animal of legendary ferocity.

   • 2000, Graham Blackmore, Philip S. Rainbow, Trace Metals in Portunid Swimming Crabs from the Southeastern Waters of Hong Kong, Brian Morton (editor), The Marine Flora and Fauna of Hong Kong and Southern China V: Proceedings of the 10th International Marine Biological Workshop, page 411,

     Four species of portunid crabs, i.e., Charybdis truncata, C. vadorum, C. feriatus and Portunus hastatoides, were trawled from the southeastern waters of Hong Kong during April 1998.

   • 2010, Orangel Aguilera, Dione Rodruiges de Aguilera, Francisco J. Vega, Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra, 6: Mesozoic and Cenozoic Decapod Crustaceans from Venezuela and Related Trace-Fossil Assemblages, Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra, Orangel A. Aguilera, Alfredo A. Carlini (editors), Urumaco and Venezuelan Paleontology, page 115,

     Occurrence of portunids in the stratigraphic units mentioned above can be associated with shallow waters and neritic coastal paleoenvironments over sandy and soft bottom, beaches, estuaries, and marginal lagoons with sea grass and mangrove protected areas. Portunids are swimmers and back-burrowers.

• (crab of family Portunidae): swimming crab