British Isles British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe that consists of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and over six thousand smaller isles. They have a total area of about 315,159 km and a combined population of just under 70 million, and include two sovereign states, the Republic of Ireland (which covers roughly five-sixths of the island of Ireland) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The islands of Alderney, Jersey, Guernsey and Sark, and their neighbouring smaller islands, are sometimes
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"