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Review
. 2025 May 5;17(5):228.
doi: 10.3390/toxins17050228.

Toxin Accumulation, Distribution, and Sources of Toxic Xanthid Crabs

Yuchengmin Zhang  1   2 , Hongchen Zhu  3 , Tomohiro Takatani  4 , Osamu Arakawa  4
Affiliations
Review

Toxin Accumulation, Distribution, and Sources of Toxic Xanthid Crabs

Yuchengmin Zhang et al. Toxins (Basel). .

Abstract

Several species of crabs from the Xanthidae family are recognized as dangerous marine organisms due to their potent neurotoxins, including paralytic shellfish toxin (PST), tetrodotoxin (TTX), and palytoxin (PLTX). However, the mechanisms of toxin accumulation and transport and the origin of these toxins in toxic xanthid crabs remain unknown. The identification of toxic crab species, their toxicity and toxin composition, and toxin profiles have been studied thus far. To date, more than ten species of xanthid crabs have been confirmed to possess toxins. Recently, several new studies on crabs, including the geographic distribution of toxin profiles and the ecological role of crabs, have been reported. Therefore, this review provides a summary of global research on toxic xanthid crabs, containing new findings and hypotheses on the toxification in and the origins of these crabs. Furthermore, the challenges and future perspectives in this field are also discussed.

Keywords: geographic distribution; origin; palytoxin; paralytic shellfish toxins; tetrodotoxin; toxic xanthid crabs.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Photos of the typical toxic xanthid crabs: (A) Zosimus aeneus, (B) Atergatis floridus, and (C) Platypodia granulosa. Scale bar: 1 cm.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The structures of PST and PST analogs usually detected in toxic xanthid crabs. STX: saxitoxin; GTX: gonyautoxin; dc: decarbamoyl; hy: carbamoyl-N-hydroxy; hyneo: carbamoyl-N-hydroxyneo.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The structures of TTX and TTX analogs usually detected in toxic xanthid crabs.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Structure of palytoxin.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Maps of the small-scale distribution of toxin profiles and toxin concentrations: Site A and Site B from Asakawa et al. [41], and three zones on Yoshihara Reef from Zhang et al. [9].
Figure 6
Figure 6
Frequency of toxic xanthid crab investigations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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