---
title: "Mediterranean Green Crab"
description: "Carcinus aestuarii — Altri animali. Carcinus aestuarii, also known as the Mediterranean green crab, is a littoral crab, native to the Mediterranean Sea."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/mediterranean-green-crab
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Mediterranean Green Crab

> Carcinus aestuarii — Altri animali. Carcinus aestuarii, also  known as the Mediterranean green crab, is a littoral crab, native to the Mediterranean Sea.

- Scientific name: *Carcinus aestuarii*
- Category: `other` (Altri animali)
- Habitats: `sea` (Mare e costa)
- iNaturalist observations: 1882
- Wikidata: [Q2336979](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2336979)
- iNaturalist taxon: [492333](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/492333)

## Names

- en: Mediterranean Green Crab
- de: Mittelmeer-Strandkrabbe
- fr: Crabe vert de Méditerranée

## Countries with the most observations

IT (672), FR (535), HR (115), GR (103), UA (94), TR (80), ES (59), SI (20), AL (18), TN (11), BG (9), RU (9)

## Summary

Carcinus aestuarii, also  known as the Mediterranean green crab, is a littoral crab, native to the Mediterranean Sea.
Carcinus aestuarii bears some similarities to Carcinus maenas and was sometimes considered to be a subspecies thereof, rather than a species in its own right, but a molecular biological study using the COI gene found the difference between the two taxa to be substantial, supporting their status as separate species. The two taxa can be visually distinguished by the front of the carapace, between the eyes, which is short and toothed in C. aestuarii but longer and smoother in C. maenas. Also, the gonopods…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinus_aestuarii

## Photo

![Mediterranean Green Crab](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/mediterranean-green-crab/medium.jpg)

Photo: Marino Linić · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/120548772

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/mediterranean-green-crab?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).