Christmas Island red crab

Gecarcoidea natalis · The Christmas Island red crab is a bright red land crab that lives on Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean.

Christmas Island red crab
Photo: DIAC images, CC BY 2.0
Christmas Island red crab
Photo: ChrisBrayPhotography, CC BY-SA 4.0
Christmas Island red crab
Photo: John Tann from Sydney, Australia, CC BY 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassMalacostraca
OrderDecapoda
FamilyGecarcinidae
GenusGecarcoidea
SpeciesGecarcoidea natalis

Where it lives

Forests of two remote Australian territories in the Indian Ocean, south of Java.

Fun facts

  • Each year millions of red crabs march to the sea at the same time, so many that they thickly carpet the ground.
  • If a red crab loses or injures a claw, the limb will regenerate.
  • During the dry season, a red crab covers its burrow entrance to keep the air inside humid and stays inside for 3 months.
  • Female crabs release their eggs into the ocean at the turn of the high tide during the last quarter of the moon.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).