History of the British Isles coalition with the Northern Irish unionist party, the DUP in order to have a working majority in the House of Commons. History of the British Isles The British Isles have witnessed intermittent periods of competition and cooperation between the people that occupy the various parts of Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Ireland, the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Bailiwick of Jersey and the smaller adjacent islands. Today, the British Isles contain two sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. There are also three Crown dependencies: Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. The United Kingdom comprises England,
Crabs of the British Isles Crabs of the British Isles Around 65 species of crab occur in the waters of the British Isles. All are marine, with the exception of the introduced Chinese mitten crab, "Eriocheir sinensis", which occurs in fresh and brackish water. They range in size from the deep-water species "Paromola cuvieri", which can reach a claw span of , to the pea crab, which is only wide and lives inside mussel shells. Several species of wild crab are the subject of crab fisheries around the coasts of the British Isles. The most important are the brown crab or edible crab, "Cancer pagurus"