Lithodes maja

{{Short description|Species of king crab}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Lithodes maja in Denmark.jpg

| image2 = Lithodes_maja_2_-_Norway.JPG

| image2_caption = Lithodes maja caught in Norway

| genus = Lithodes

| species = maja

| authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) {{cite web |url=http://www.imv.uit.no/crustikon/Decapoda/Decapoda2/Species_index/Lithodes_maja.htm |title=Lithodes maja (Linnaeus, 1758) |work=Crustikon – crustacean photographic website |publisher=Tromsø Museum – University of Tromsø |year=2003 |author=Cédric d'Udekem d'Acoz |archivedate=February 19, 2008 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219132318/http://www.imv.uit.no/crustikon/Decapoda/Decapoda2/Species_index/Lithodes_maja.htm |access-date=August 16, 2007}}

| synonyms =

{{Species list

| Cancer horridus | Pennant, 1777

| Cancer Maja | Linnaeus, 1758

| Cancer spinosus | Ascanius, 1776

| Cancer spinosus amboinensis | Seba, 1759

| Inachus maja | (Linnaeus, 1758)

| Lithodes arctica | Latreille, 1806

| Lithodes dubius | Brandt, 1848

| Lithodes maia | (Linnaeus, 1758)

| Maia vulgaris | Bosc, 1801

| Maja eriocheles | Lamarck, 1801

| Parthenope maja | (Linnaeus, 1758)

}}

| synonyms_ref = {{cite WoRMS|last=De Grave|first=Sammy|date=30 November 2021|title=Lithodes maja (Linnaeus, 1758)|id=107205|access-date=25 October 2024}}

}}

Lithodes maja, the Norway king crab or northern stone crab,{{Cite web |last=katrine |title=lithodes maja {{!}} The Invertebrate Collections |url=https://invertebrate.w.uib.no/tag/lithodes-maja/ |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=University Museum of Bergen |date=10 December 2015 |language=en-US}} is a species of king crab which occurs in colder North Atlantic waters off Europe and North America. It is found along the entire coast of Norway, including Svalbard, ranging south into the North Sea and Kattegat, the northern half of the British Isles (with a few records off southwest England), and around the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and off south-eastern Greenland.{{cite web |url=http://www.seawater.no/fauna/arthropoda/maja.html |title=Deepsea king crab |author=K. Telnes |accessdate=May 29, 2019 |publisher=seawater.no }}{{cite web| author=Wilson, E. | year=2006 | title=Lithodes maja | url=https://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/1278 | work= MarLIN | accessdate=29 May 2019 }} In the West Atlantic, it ranges from the Davis Strait between Greenland and Canada south to The Carolinas in the United States.{{cite web |url=http://canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca/english/species/crustaceans/crustaceanpages/lit_maj.htm |title=Stone crab, Lithodes maja |publisher=McGill University |work=Canada's Species |accessdate=August 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314075333/http://canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca/english/species/crustaceans/crustaceanpages/lit_maj.htm |archive-date=March 14, 2017 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}

The carapace is almost circular and may reach a width of up to {{cvt|13|-|14|cm}}. The whole body is brown or orange and is covered with large spikes. It lives on both soft and hard bottoms, at depths of {{cvt|10|to(-)|1000|m|-1}}. Like most king crabs, females are asymmetrical, with the left side of the abdomen considerably larger than the right, although specimens with the reverse of this are occasionally found.{{cite journal |author=S. D. Zaklan |year=2000 |title=A case of reversed asymmetry in Lithodes maja (Linnaeus, 1758) (Decapoda, Anomura, Lithodidae) |journal=Crustaceana |volume=73 |issue=8 |pages=1019–1022 |doi=10.1163/156854000504949|bibcode=2000Crust..73.1019. }}

The low rate of egg production by this species, in comparison to species fished in the North Pacific, limits its abundance, making it unsuitable for commercial exploitation.{{cite web |url=http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/fdp/projectreports/fdp_84.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503191813/http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/fdp/projectreports/fdp_84.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 3, 2007 |title=Northern stone crab (Lithodes maja) exploratory fishing |publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador |year=2000 }}

Larval development is lecithotrophic and takes about 7 weeks at a constant temperature of {{Convert|9|C|F}}.{{Cite journal |last=Anger |first=K. |date=August 1996 |title=Physiological and Biochemical Changes during Lecithotrophic Larval Development and Early Juvenile Growth in the Northern Stone Crab, Lithodes Maja (Decapoda: Anomura) |journal=Marine Biology |volume=126 |issue=2 |pages=283–296 |doi=10.1007/BF00347453 |bibcode=1996MarBi.126..283A |s2cid=84314578}}