Indo hermit crab
Coenobita brevimanus
- Water temperature27–30 °C
- Best monthsJuly, August, and September
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: no rights reserved, uploaded by Peter de Lange · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
About this species
Coenobita brevimanus is a species of terrestrial hermit crab belonging to the family Coenobitidae, which is composed of coastal-living terrestrial hermit crabs. The Latin origins of the species name, brevimanus, come from the adjective brevis ("small") and the noun manus ("hands"). It is known as the Indos crab or Indonesian crab because it is primarily distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Coenobita brevimanus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 118 records
- February: 152 records
- March: 131 records
- April: 143 records
- May: 176 records
- June: 177 records
- July: 208 records
- August: 226 records
- September: 199 records
- October: 154 records
- November: 130 records
- December: 111 records
Depth and water temperature
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 27–30 °C
Photos
(c) Ken Puliafico, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Prathamesh Khedwan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) B. P. White, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) Sula Vanderplank, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Jay Paroline, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Indo hermit crab, Indonesian hermit crab, Forest land hermit crab, Indos Hermit Crab, Purple Hermit Crab
Names in 5 more languages
- German
- Indonesischer Landeinsiedlerkrebs, Kurzscheren-Landeinsiedlerkrebs
- French
- Bernard l'hermite terrestre, Cénobite forestier
- Japanese
- オオナキオカヤドカリ
- Thai
- ปูเสฉวนยักษ์
- Simplified Chinese
- 短掌陸寄居蟹, 短腕陸寄居蟹
Other scientific names: Coenobita hilgendorfi
Similar species
Purple land hermit crabCoenobita perlatus
Ruggie hermit crabCoenobita rugosus
Purple Indonesian Hermit CrabCoenobita violascens
Red Sea Land Hermit CrabCoenobita scaevola
Aussie hermit crabCoenobita variabilis
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).
- 462 open-data records from 1852 to 2012.
- Species data updated November 1, 2026.
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