Purple land hermit crab

Coenobita perlatus

Crustaceans
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth0–2,253 m
Water temperature24–29 °C
Best monthsMay, July, and November
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: no rights reserved, uploaded by Bruno Senterre · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

About this species

Coenobita perlatus is a species of terrestrial hermit crab. It is known as the strawberry hermit crab because of its reddish-orange colours. It is a widespread scavenger across the Indo-Pacific, and wild-caught specimens are traded to hobby aquarists.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Coenobita perlatus”, 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: 119 records
February: 79 records
March: 88 records
April: 77 records
May: 125 records
June: 89 records
July: 138 records
August: 98 records
September: 77 records
October: 83 records
November: 166 records
December: 91 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–2,253 m · Deepest record: 2,253 m

0–10 m: 1 records
10–20 m: 0 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–29 °C

24–26 °C: 5 records
26–28 °C: 12 records
28–30 °C: 11 records

Photos

(c) Petr Baum, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Henrik Kibak, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Dominik Maximilián Ramík, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Geoff Shuetrim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Purple land hermit crab, Strawberry hermit crab, Strawberry land hermit crab, purple land hermit crab, Red Hermit Crab, strawberry land hermit crab

Names in 4 more languages

German: Erdbeereinsiedler, Erdbeer-Krebs, Erdbeer-Landeinsiedlerkrebs
French: Cénobite rouge
Japanese: サキシマオカヤドカリ
Simplified Chinese: 橙紅陸寄居蟹, 草莓陸寄居蟹

Other scientific names: Cenobita perlata

Similar species

Indo hermit crab
Coenobita brevimanus
Coenobita cavipes
Ruggie hermit crab
Coenobita rugosus
Purple Indonesian Hermit Crab
Coenobita violascens
Red Sea Land Hermit Crab
Coenobita scaevola
Aussie hermit crab
Coenobita 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).
265 open-data records from 1837 to 2012.
Species data updated November 1, 2026.

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