In Vietnam, the Hepu hairy crab is known by various names such as Cà ra, hairy crab, and crab with skin, depending on the local dialects in different provinces.
Hepu Hairy Crab.
Researchers Paul F. Clark from the Department of Life Sciences at the Natural History Museum (United Kingdom), animal researcher Ngô Văn Trí from the Tropical Biology Institute (under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), Turkish researchers, and scholars from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore have recently published their findings on the Hepu hairy crab – Eriocheir hepuensis Dai 1991, belonging to the family Varunidae. This discovery corrects previous misidentifications by some authors regarding the presence of the Chinese hairy crab – Eriocheir sinensis in Northern Vietnam as an exotic, invasive species, and the Japanese hairy crab – Eriocheir japonica.
This research was published in the journal Crustaceana 96(5) in May 2023. The natural distribution of the Hepu hairy crab ranges from Quảng Ninh, Lạng Sơn, Bắc Giang, Bắc Ninh to Thanh Hóa.
According to local observations, the Hepu hairy crab matures sexually and reproduces by migrating downstream to brackish waters and the sea; the larvae drift along the coastal currents. Young crabs migrate upstream to rocky areas of rivers and streams for growth and sexual maturity.
Globally, there are three species within the hairy crab genus including the Chinese hairy crab – Eriocheir sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853; the Japanese hairy crab – E. japonica (De Haan, 1835), and the hairy crab – E. ogasawaraensis Komai et al, 2006.
