
Ruggie hermit crab
Coenobita rugosus
- Usual depth0.5 m
- Water temperature24–29 °C
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) Thomas Quine, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Coenobita rugosus is a species of land hermit crab native to Indonesia, Australia and the east African coast to the south west Pacific.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Coenobita rugosus”, 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: 435 records
- February: 442 records
- March: 559 records
- April: 505 records
- May: 522 records
- June: 491 records
- July: 591 records
- August: 529 records
- September: 537 records
- October: 449 records
- November: 415 records
- December: 466 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 0.5 m · Deepest record: 0.5 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 24–29 °C
Photos

(c) Franz Anthony, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Franz Anthony · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Franz Anthony, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Darren Obbard, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Jay Brasher, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Ruggie hermit crab, Tawny hermit crab, ruggie hermit crab, tawny hermit crab
Names in 3 more languages
- German
- Ruggie-Landeinsiedlerkrebs
- Japanese
- ナキオカヤドカリ
- Simplified Chinese
- 灰白陸寄居蟹, 皺紋陸寄居蟹
Other scientific names: Cenobita rugosa, Coenobita rugosa, Coenobita subrugosa
Similar species
Indo hermit crabCoenobita brevimanus

Purple land hermit crabCoenobita perlatus
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).
- 1,006 open-data records from 1837 to 2014.
- Species data updated November 1, 2026.
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