A laboratory study at the Shannon Point Marine Center, Washington on the effects of temperature on survival and duration of zoeal larval stages of Dungeness crabs Cancer magister shows that overall best survival is at lower temperatures of 10-15^oC.  As expected, stage duration varies inversely with temperature at all stages (data not shown).  As shown in the accompanying figure, the terminal 5th zoeal stage is the most sensitive to temperature stress.  Sulkin & McKeen 1989 Mar Biol 103: 31.

Some 40-50 species of porcelain crabs Petrolisthes spp. inhabit rocky intertidal shores along the west coasts of both North and South America, including at least 5 from Alaska to southern California.  A comparison of physiological tolerance limits in relation to their vertical distributions in 20 of these species reveals that thermal limits of many of the high-intertidal species are near current habitat-temperature maxima.  This puts them at additional risk should climate change lead to significant environmental warming.  Stillman 2002 Integ Comp Biol 42: 790; for another brief review of thermal stresses and tolerances in porcelain crabs Petrolisthes see Stillman & Somero 2000 Physiol Biochem Zool 73: 200. Photograph courtesy Dave Zitten, University of British Columbia.

Two of the most common porcelain-crab species
on the west coast of North America. Other species
include cabrilloi,manimaculis, amd rathbunae.