Smooth box crab

Calappa hepatica

Crustaceans
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth0–60 m
Water temperature20–30 °C
Best monthsApril, June, and July
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) coenobita, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by coenobita · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Calappa hepatica, the reef box crab, is a common benthic species of box crab of tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Red Sea.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Calappa hepatica”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 52 records
February: 43 records
March: 60 records
April: 118 records
May: 80 records
June: 93 records
July: 97 records
August: 74 records
September: 51 records
October: 47 records
November: 52 records
December: 54 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–60 m · Deepest record: 84.5 m

0–10 m: 18 records
10–20 m: 3 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 3 records
40–50 m: 2 records
50–60 m: 3 records
60–70 m: 3 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 22 records
22–24 °C: 16 records
24–26 °C: 29 records
26–28 °C: 105 records
28–30 °C: 100 records

Photos

(c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Attila Oláh, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Davis Damaledo, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) anguspritchard, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Saryu Mae 前朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Smooth box crab, Common Box Crab, Reef Box Crab, smooth box crab, Smooth Box Crab

Names in 4 more languages

French: Calappe aux longs yeux, Crabe honteux de récif
Japanese: ソデカラッパ
Thai: ปูฤๅษีปม
Simplified Chinese: 肝葉饅頭蟹

Other scientific names: Calappa spinocissima, Calappa spinosissima, Calappa tuberculosa, Calappe spinosissima, Calappe tuberculata, Cancer afata, Cancer hepatica, Cancer tuberculatus

Similar species

Japanese Box Crab
Calappa japonica
Common Box Crab
Calappa lophos
Spectacled Box Crab
Calappa philargius
Two-horn Box Crab
Calappa bicornis
Calappa clypeata

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
718 open-data records from 1758 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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