Paromola cuvieri
{{Short description|Species of crab}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Paromola cuvieri.jpg
| genus = Paromola
| species = cuvieri
| authority = (Risso, 1816)
| synonyms_ref = {{cite web |first1=Charles |last1=Fransen |first2= Michael |last2=Türkay |year=2011 |title=Paromola cuvieri (Risso, 1816) |publisher=World Register of Marine Species |url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=107264 |access-date=April 18, 2011}}
| synonyms =*Dorippe cuvieri Risso, 1816
- Maia dumerili Risso, 1816
}}
Paromola cuvieri is a species of crab in the family Homolidae, the carrier crabs. It occurs in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, from Angola to Norway, the Northern Isles and Iceland.{{cite journal |author-link=Isabella Gordon|last=Gordon|first=Isabella |year=1956 |title=Paromola cuvieri (Risso), a crab new to the Orkneys, Shetlands and Norway|journal=Nature |volume=178 |issue=4543 |pages=1184–1185 |doi=10.1038/1781184a0|bibcode=1956Natur.178.1184G|s2cid=4281223 }}{{cite journal|last1=Lilliendahl|first1=Kristján |last2= Einarsson |first2=Sólmundur T. |last3= Pálsson |first3=Jónbjörn |year=2005|trans-title=Two species of rare crabs, Paralomis spectabilis and Paromola cuvieri Crustacea, Decapoda, in Icelandic waters|title=Tvær sjaldgæfar tegundir skjaldkrabba Decapoda við Ísland|language=Icelandic, English |journal=Natturufraedingurinn |publisher= Hið íslenska náttúrufræðifélag |volume=733|issue=3–4|pages= 89–94|url=http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?pageId=4257392}} It is demersal, occurring at depths of {{convert|10|–|1212|m|ft}}, but it is primarily found deeper than {{convert|80|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{SeaLifeBase species|id=26779|genus=Paromola |species=cuvieri|month=June |year=2017}} It prefers areas with mud and emerging rocks, and has been observed in deep-water coral gardens and sponge aggregations.{{cite journal|last1=Capezzuto|last2= Maiorano|first2= Porzia|last3=Panza|first3= Michele|last4=Indennidate|first4= Antonella|last5=Sion|first5= Letizia|last6= D'Onghia |first6= Gianfranco|year=2011|title=Occurrence and behaviour of Paromola cuvieri (Crustacea, Decapoda) in the Santa Maria di Leuca cold-water coral community (Mediterranean Sea)|journal= Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |volume=53|pages= 1–7|doi= 10.1016/j.dsr.2011.10.006|first1= Francesca|bibcode= 2012DSRI...59....1C}}{{cite journal |author=Andreia Braga-Henriques |author2=Marina Carreiro-Silva |author3=Fernando Tempera |author4=Filipe Mora Porteiro |author5=Kirsten Jakobsen |author6=Joachim Jakobsen |author7=Mónica Albuquerque |author8=Ricardo Serrão Santos | year=2012 | title=Carrying behavior in the deep-sea crab Paromola cuvieri (Northeast Atlantic) | journal=Marine Biodiversity |volume=42 | issue=1 | pages= 37–46 | doi= 10.1007/s12526-011-0090-3| s2cid=10072917 }} It is locally common.{{cite journal| author=Cartes, J.E. | year=1993 | title=Diets of deep-sea brachyuran crabs in the Western Mediterranean Sea | journal=Marine Biology |volume=117 | issue=3 | pages= 449–457 | doi= 10.1007/BF00349321| s2cid=55344820 }}
This reddish crab is sexually dimorphic; the males have larger claws and are overall larger than the females.{{cite journal|last=Thurston|year=1987|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcHQ3BIGfHMC&pg=PA24 |title=Record breaking crab is not such a strange catch|journal= New Scientist |volume=114|issue=1554|page= 24|first=Mike}} The carapace of the largest males can reach {{convert|21.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}, while their claws can span {{convert|1.2|m|ft|abbr=on|0}}. Like other members of the family, most P. cuvieri in their natural habitat carry an object, typically a living sessile invertebrate such as a sponge or deep-water coral, over the carapace in the small hindlegs. This may be used as camouflage, but is also used actively in defense by positioning the object between the crab and a would-be attacker. P. cuvieri is a scavenger of a wide range of animal matters, and a predator of animals such as decapods, but only rarely takes small benthic species (glycerids, cumaceans and amphipods).