Here is the response we have gotten from Dr. Newman at Scripps Institute of Oceanagraphy. He and his colleges believe it to indeed be P. Tuberculata
=====================================================
Good to meet you the other night as you seemed to be enjoying your visit.
The crab you left pictures of looks like Pyromaia tuberculata, the
tuberculate pear crab. According to what Greg Jensen says in his book,*
its range in the East Pacific as Tomales Bay to Columbia so it is
effectively a Panamic species that extends further north than most in
California, Monterey Bay being the usual northern limit for a few of those
species that extend north of Pt. Conception. He also writes that it has
been introduced likely by ships to Australia and Japan.
If you are interested in this sort of thing you might want to pick up a copy
of Jensen's book, *"Pacific Coast Crabs and Shrimps" (1995) at the book
store at the Birch Aquarium at SIO. If you gave them a call and they didn't
have it in stock, they can order it for you.
Best wishes and do come again,
Bill
P.S. If you want your pictures please send me you address.,
--
William A. Newman, PhD
Professor of Biological Oceanography &
Curator of Benthic Invetebrates
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
L a J o l l a , CA 92093-0202, USA
Phone (858) 534-2150, Fax 001-1-858-534-7313,
E-mail wnewman@ucsd.edu
http://collections.ucsd.edu/bi/index.cfm
=====================================================
Good to meet you the other night as you seemed to be enjoying your visit.
The crab you left pictures of looks like Pyromaia tuberculata, the
tuberculate pear crab. According to what Greg Jensen says in his book,*
its range in the East Pacific as Tomales Bay to Columbia so it is
effectively a Panamic species that extends further north than most in
California, Monterey Bay being the usual northern limit for a few of those
species that extend north of Pt. Conception. He also writes that it has
been introduced likely by ships to Australia and Japan.
If you are interested in this sort of thing you might want to pick up a copy
of Jensen's book, *"Pacific Coast Crabs and Shrimps" (1995) at the book
store at the Birch Aquarium at SIO. If you gave them a call and they didn't
have it in stock, they can order it for you.
Best wishes and do come again,
Bill
P.S. If you want your pictures please send me you address.,
--
William A. Newman, PhD
Professor of Biological Oceanography &
Curator of Benthic Invetebrates
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
L a J o l l a , CA 92093-0202, USA
Phone (858) 534-2150, Fax 001-1-858-534-7313,
E-mail wnewman@ucsd.edu
http://collections.ucsd.edu/bi/index.cfm
). 
