Cancer productus

Cancer productus, one of several species known as red rock crabs, is a crab of the genus Cancer found on the western coast of North America. This species is commonly nicknamed the Pearl of the Pacific Northwest.

Cancer productus

Taollan82 ; Kirt L. Onthank · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
red rock crabPBDB
Sits inside
CancerPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Decapoda
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Cancridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Malacostraca
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Malacostraca

Time the record covers

At least 3.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 43 occurrencesPliocene — about 9 of 43 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 34 of 43 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 43 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.3–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.9–2.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.7–2.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences3.6 Mya129 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

43 occurrences of Cancer productus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

43 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

14 formations

San Pedro — 33.80°N, 118.17°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WTimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°WSan Diego — 32.80°N, 117.26°WSan Diego — 32.54°N, 117.11°WSan Diego — 32.81°N, 117.23°WSan Pedro Sand — 33.74°N, 118.28°WSanta Barbara — 34.41°N, 119.72°WSanta Barbara — 34.44°N, 119.78°WMillerton — 38.22°N, 122.95°WMillerton — 38.22°N, 122.95°WLomita Marl — 33.75°N, 118.30°WEtchegoin — 36.01°N, 120.04°WMoonstone Beach — 41.03°N, 124.11°WElk River — 42.81°N, 124.53°WPico — 34.38°N, 119.07°WFernando — 34.05°N, 118.26°WCantil Costero — 30.20°N, 115.79°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cancer productus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cancer productus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Cancer productus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

968 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 37 sites for Cancer productus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

5 references

Each of the 43 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Cancer productus

Credit
Taollan82 ; Kirt L. Onthank
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCancer through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Randall 1839)