Paralithodes

Paralithodes is a genus of king crabs native to cold waters in the North Pacific Ocean, Okhotsk Sea, Bering Sea and Sea of Japan, but with one species also introduced to far northern Europe. They are medium-large to very large king crabs, and some species are important to commercial fisheries.^[1] A 2017 examination of the phylogeny of king crabs suggests that the internal placement of Paralithodes within this family is not fully resolved.^[2]

Paralithodes Temporal range: Early Miocene–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Paralithodes californiensis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Anomura
Family:	Lithodidae
Subfamily:	Lithodinae
Genus:	Paralithodes Brandt, 1848
Type species
Paralithodes brevipes (H. Milne-Edwards & Lucas, 1841)

Species

The genus contains the following species:^[1][3]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Paralithodes brevipes (H. Milne-Edwards & Lucas, 1841)	Brown king crab, Hanasaki king crab, spiny king crab	Northwest Pacific, Okhotsk Sea, Bering Sea
	Paralithodes bishuensis Karasawa & Ando in Karasawa, Mizuno, Hachiya & Ando, 2017 †		Japan (Early Miocene)
	Paralithodes californiensis (Benedict, 1895)	California king crab, spiny king crab	East Pacific off California
	Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815)	red king crab	North Pacific, Bering Sea, Okhotsk Sea, Sea of Japan; introduced to oceans off far northern Europe
	Paralithodes platypus (Brandt, 1851)	blue king crab	North Pacific, Bering Sea, Okhotsk Sea, Sea of Japan
	Paralithodes rathbuni (Benedict, 1895)	California king crab, spiny king crab	East Pacific off California and Baja California