Invasive species - Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in Flanders, Belgium

Occurrence Observation
Latest version published by Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) on Dec 9, 2025 Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Home:
https://www.inbo.be/nl/onderzoeksgroepen/faunabeheer
Publication date:
9 December 2025
License:
CC0 1.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 7,899 records in English (166 KB) - Update frequency: annually
Metadata as an EML file download in English (21 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (15 KB)

Description

Invasive species - Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in Flanders, Belgium is a species occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). The dataset contains over 6,000 occurrences (Chinese mitten crab exclusively) sampled between 2000 and now. The data are compiled from different monitoring initiatives coordinated or run at INBO. The Chinese mitten crab is listed as a species of EU concern sensu the EU regulation 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species (IAS). This requires member states to report on the status and distrubution of such species. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/LifeWatchINBO/data-publication/tree/master/datasets/invasive-chinese-mitten-crab-occurrencesTo allow anyone to use this dataset, we have released the data to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). We would appreciate however, if you read and follow these norms for data use (http://www.inbo.be/en/norms-for-data-use) and provide a link to the original dataset (https://doi.org/10.15468/eakzzv) whenever possible. If you use these data for a scientific paper, please cite the dataset following the applicable citation norms and/or consider us for co-authorship. We are always interested to know how you have used or visualized the data, or to provide more information, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata, opendata@inbo.be or https://twitter.com/LifeWatchINBO.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 7,899 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Devisscher S, Adriaens T, Brosens D, Desmet P (2025). Invasive species - Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in Flanders, Belgium. Version 1.10. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Occurrence dataset. https://doi.org/10.15468/eakzzv

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 258c9ce5-1bda-4001-a192-347c9e7fb186.  Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Belgian Biodiversity Platform.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation; Chinese mitten crab; Eriocheir sinensis; crustaceans; invasive alien species; non-native species; Occurrence

Contacts

Sander Devisscher
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
  • Research assistant
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
  • Kliniekstraat 25
1070 Brussels
Brussels Capital Region
BE
Tim Adriaens
  • Originator
  • Researcher
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
  • Kliniekstraat 25
1070 Brussels
Brussels Capital Region
BE
Dimitri Brosens
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Data liaison officer
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
  • Kliniekstraat 25
1070 Brussels
Brussels Capital Region
BE
Peter Desmet
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Data lab coordinator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
  • Kliniekstraat 25
1070 Brussels
Brussels Capital Region
BE

Geographic Coverage

Flanders, Belgium.

Bounding Coordinates South West [50.68, 2.54], North East [51.51, 5.92]

Taxonomic Coverage

This is a monospecies dataset: all records are Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853).

Kingdom Animalia (animals)
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Malacostraca
Order Decapoda
Family Varunidae
Genus Eriocheir
Species Eriocheir sinensis (Chinese mitten crab)

Temporal Coverage

Living Time Period 2000-09-01 - now

Sampling Methods

Most of the Chinese mitten crabs were caught using double fyke nets in rivers and surface waters. The set-up of the fyke netting network was mostly primarily aimed at catching fish (Steven et al. 2009). These nets sample the lower 50 cm of the water column. The nets are placed parallel to the river's bank, as opposed to normal fyke nets that are placed at a 90° angle to the bank. Mitten crabs were mostly recorded as bycatch of fish monitoring or riverine/estuarine research projects. In most cases, the number of crabs per fyke was recorded, but for high density locations, the density was recorded as the net weight of crabs caught. The fyke nettings only provide data on relative abundances of mitten crabs, not of mitten crab densities. Counts and weights are not included in this dataset and are available upon request.

Study Extent This dataset is compiled from various data sources (research projects, monitoring programmes, unpublished datasets) available at the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Because many of these studies/projects are small, we chose to extract Chinese mitten crab occurrences from the original (mostly formerly unpublished) datasets and compile them into this dataset.
Quality Control Fieldwork was mostly performed by professionals (trained experts or researchers) of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). However, 1797 records represent volunteer data from a validated citizen science project on the occurrence of fish in the Scheldt estuary (Stevens et al. 2009, Breine unpublished). In this case, captures were performed by trained volunteers and data were subject to validation by the researcher involved.

Method step description:

  1. Not provided.

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Groom QJ, Desmet P, Vanderhoeven S, Adriaens T (2015) The importance of open data for invasive alien species research, policy and management. Management of Biological Invasions 6, 2: 119–125 https://doi.org/10.3391/mbi.2015.6.2.02 https://doi.org/10.3391/mbi.2015.6.2.02
  2. EU (2014) Regulation (EU) no 1143/2014 of the European parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. Official Journal of the European Union 4.11.2014, L317:35-55
  3. Messiaen M, Lock K, Gabriels W, Vercauteren T, Wouters K, Boets P, Goethals PLM (2010) Alien macrocrustaceans in freshwater ecosystems in the eastern part of Flanders (Belgium). Belgian Journal of Zoology 140: 30–39
  4. Kerckhof F, Haelters J, Gollasch S (2007) Alien species in the marine and brackish ecosystem: the situation in Belgian waters. Aquatic Invasions 2: 243–257 https://doi.org/10.3391/ai.2007.2.3.9 https://doi.org/10.3391/ai.2007.2.3.9
  5. Wouters K (2002) On the distribution of alien non-marine and estuarine macro-crustaceans in Belgium. Bulletin van het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen. Biologie 72: 119–129
  6. Stevens M (2010) Advies betreffende de Chinese Wolhandkrab langsheen de Schelde. INBO.A.2010.59. Available online https://www.inbo.be/nl/advies/advies-betreffende-de-chinese-wolhandkrab-langsheen-de-schelde
  7. Stevens M, Van den Neucker T, Mouton A, Buysse D, Martens S, Baeyens R, Jacobs Y, Gelaude E, Coeck J (2009) Onderzoek naar de trekvissoorten in het stroomgebied van de Schelde. Rapport INBO, R.2009.9. Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek: Brussel, Belgium. 188 pp.
  8. Maes J, Taillieu A, Van Damme P, Ollevier F (1996) Impact van watercaptatie via het waterpompstation van de kerncentrale van Doel 3/4 op de biota van de BenedenZeeschelde. Studierapport in opdracht van Electrabel. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. 111 pp. + bijlagen
  9. Pas J, Peeters B, Maes J, Vlietinck K, Pauwels F, Ollevier F, (1998) Opvolging van het visbestand van de Zeeschelde en de bijhorende overstromingsgebieden. Studierapport in opdracht van AMINAL. 82 pp. + bijlagen
  10. Boets P, Brosens D, Lock K, Adriaens T, Aelterman B, Mertens J, Goethals PLM (2016) Alien macroinvertebrates in Flanders (Belgium). Aquatic Invasions 11: in press

Additional Metadata

Purpose
Alternative Identifiers 258c9ce5-1bda-4001-a192-347c9e7fb186
https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=invasive-chinese-mitten-crab-occurrences