Potamon fluviatile icon in Malta following its legal protection in 1993, although not all scientists recognise the taxon. Potamon fluviatile Potamon fluviatile is a freshwater crab found in or near wooded streams, rivers and lakes in Southern Europe. It is an omnivore with broad ecological tolerances, and adults typically reach in size during their 10–12 year lifespan. They inhabit burrows and are aggressive, apparently outcompeting native crayfish. "P. fluviatile" has been harvested for food since classical antiquity, and is now threatened by overexploitation. Many of the island populations are particularly vulnerable, and the Maltese subspecies has become a conservation icon. A population
Potamon fluviatile the larval stages inside the egg. "Potamon fluviatile" is edible, as indicated by its alternative specific epithet "edulis", and was known to the ancient Greeks; it is probably this species which they depicted on medals found at Agrigento, Sicily. More recently, the species was depicted on the 5¢ coin in the last series of Maltese coins before the introduction of the Euro there in 2007. "Potamon fluviatile" has a generalist diet, feeding on vegetable debris, scraping algae from surfaces, or preying on frogs, tadpoles, and various invertebrates, such as insect larvae, snails or worms. No predator seems to specialise on