Gabriel Paladino Ibáñez, Uruguay
Info
Lophozozymus pictor (Fabricius, 1798)
Lophozozymus pictor is known to be one of the most poisonous crabs in the world. There are several documented deaths caused by eating this crab. Its neurotoxin does not get denatured by heat even when cooked. It acquires the poisonous neurotoxin from its food, including a poisonous sea cucumber. Inhabits littoral and sublittoral areas with rocky and coral rubble substrates, and coral reefs.
Poisonous to eat!
Many species of the family Xanthidae can be poisonous, although they themselves have no poisonous apparatus (poisonous teeth, poisonous spines, poisonous glands in the skin), the consumption of these crustaceans can even be fatal for humans. Such animals are considered passive-poisonous.
The toxins of crabs (saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin) are produced by endobacteria and stored in the flesh of the crab, these e are highly potent and similar to the neurotoxins of puffer fish and just as deadly.
In its raw and cooked meat, consumption of the crab meat is toxic to humans!
Please be sure to clarify whether the meat of these crabs is toxic or non-toxic before eating it!
Call an emergency doctor immediately at the first signs of poisoning (e.g. breathing problems, muscle cramps)!
The good news is there’s no way you can be exposed to these toxins if you don’t try to eat these crabs – a bite or a jab isn’t going to do the job.
The bad news for those who unwittingly consume these crabs is that cooking the meat isn’t going to make the toxins any less effective.
Fortunately, toxic crabs don’t want to be eaten just as much as we shouldn’t be eating them, so they help us out with their glorious warning colours.
Synonymised names:
Alpheus pictor Weber, 1795 (nomen nudum)
Cancer lactatus Linnaeus, 1758 (nomen oblitum)
Cancer pictor Fabricius, 1798
Cancer rhumphii Guérin, 1830
Cancer saxatilis Herbst, 1785
Xantho octodentatus H. Milne Edwards, 1834
Lophozozymus pictor is known to be one of the most poisonous crabs in the world. There are several documented deaths caused by eating this crab. Its neurotoxin does not get denatured by heat even when cooked. It acquires the poisonous neurotoxin from its food, including a poisonous sea cucumber. Inhabits littoral and sublittoral areas with rocky and coral rubble substrates, and coral reefs.
Poisonous to eat!
Many species of the family Xanthidae can be poisonous, although they themselves have no poisonous apparatus (poisonous teeth, poisonous spines, poisonous glands in the skin), the consumption of these crustaceans can even be fatal for humans. Such animals are considered passive-poisonous.
The toxins of crabs (saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin) are produced by endobacteria and stored in the flesh of the crab, these e are highly potent and similar to the neurotoxins of puffer fish and just as deadly.
In its raw and cooked meat, consumption of the crab meat is toxic to humans!
Please be sure to clarify whether the meat of these crabs is toxic or non-toxic before eating it!
Call an emergency doctor immediately at the first signs of poisoning (e.g. breathing problems, muscle cramps)!
The good news is there’s no way you can be exposed to these toxins if you don’t try to eat these crabs – a bite or a jab isn’t going to do the job.
The bad news for those who unwittingly consume these crabs is that cooking the meat isn’t going to make the toxins any less effective.
Fortunately, toxic crabs don’t want to be eaten just as much as we shouldn’t be eating them, so they help us out with their glorious warning colours.
Synonymised names:
Alpheus pictor Weber, 1795 (nomen nudum)
Cancer lactatus Linnaeus, 1758 (nomen oblitum)
Cancer pictor Fabricius, 1798
Cancer rhumphii Guérin, 1830
Cancer saxatilis Herbst, 1785
Xantho octodentatus H. Milne Edwards, 1834
