Paralomis multispina
Paralomis multispina, also known as the many-spined king crab, is a species of king crab.
Description
Paralomis multispina has a scarlet red to pale pink in colour, and the spines are dark red. Its pyriform carapace, chelipeds and walking legs are covered by stout, sharp-tipped, conical spines that are flattened at an oblique, posterior-facing angle. These spines are surrounded by a circumference of short setae around the flattened posterior face. The spines are numerous and densely distributed across both the dorsal surface and lateral margins of the carapace. They reach up to in carapace length, although are recorded, and some specimens reaches wide and long.Distribution and habitat
Paralomis multispina inhabits the North Pacific Ocean, with confirmed records from Sagami Bay, Japan in the west to Shumagin Bank, Alaska in the north, extending south to Guadalupe Island, Baja California and Carmen Island in the Gulf of California. The species is particularly well-documented from waters around Japan and the western coast of North America.The species occupies deep continental slope environments at depths ranging from, though most commonly found between on muddy substrates. This places P. multispina firmly within the bathyal zone, where it has evolved specialized adaptations for life in the deep sea. The species has been discovered in association with cold seeps off Japan, indicating its presence in chemosynthetic ecosystems.
Taxonomy
Paralomis multispina was described by James Everard Benedict in 1895, whose are similar to Paralomis longipes, another species known from Peru, which the two of them are very similar but differientated by the spines and carapace which P. multispina has.Its genus name Paralomis was established by Adam White in 1856 and is named for its similarity to the genus Lomis, a smaller but related genus of king crabs. The specific name multispina is Latin for "many spines", referring to the crab's characteristic heavily spinose carapace covered with numerous spines.