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 and across Central Asia as far east as northwestern India. The populations of "P. fluviatile" on the Peloponnese, Kefalonia, and Zakynthos may represent a separate, cryptic species, and the population from the Peloponnese was described in 2010 as "P. pelops". "P. fluviatile" was formerly divided into three subspecies: "P. f. algeriense", "P. f. berghetripsorum" and "P. f. fluviatile". The first two of these live in North Africa, and were later combined and separated from "P. fluviatile" as the species "Potamon algeriense". By 1983, the nominate subspecies (equivalent to the current circumscription of the species "P. fluviatile") had been divided into