The edible crab has a robust shell, wider than it is long, with a reddish-brown colour and two strong claws with black tips. It is found in the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea, where it dwells in shallower waters for the first six months of its life. It then moves to deeper areas, up to 100 meters, including in lagoons and estuaries. The edible crab feeds essentially on crustaceans and bivalves, which it captures and kills by squeezing them with its claws. It reproduces during spring and summer, after females shed their shells. Female edible crabs carry up to 3 million eggs in their abdomen for six months, during which time they remains hidden under rocks or buried in holes they dig.