Lithodes santolla

Lithodes santolla, also known as the southern king crab, Chilean king crab or centolla, is a species of king crab, found off southern South America, including the offshore Falkland Islands. On the Pacific side, it is found in Chile from Valdivia at around 40° S to Cape Horn at 60° S. On the Atlantic side, it is found off Argentina and Uruguay. It lives in the benthic zone at depths of . In Chile, it mostly lives at depths to , but south of 40° S it has been found at . It is a large crab that can reach up to in carapace length.
The lucrative centolla fishery around Tierra del Fuego led to an incident in August 1967 when the Argentine schooner ' was found fishing from Gable Island and had to be escorted out of Chilean waters by the Chilean patrol boat '. This event among many others led to the Beagle conflict in the late 1970s.
The United States Food and Drug Administration lists the centolla crab and southern king crab as two separate species: "Lithodes antarcticus" and "Lithodes santolla" respectively. Other sources consider "Lithodes antarcticus" to be a synonym of "Lithodes santolla".
A study has found that "L. santolla" is capable of withstanding long periods of aerial exposure with no detrimental effect on crab survival, opening the possibility of commercializing "L. santolla" in the attractive live seafood market.