Aussie hermit crab

About this species

The Australian land hermit crab is a terrestrial hermit crab species, native to Australia. It is a nocturnal, omnivorous crustacean. They are gregarious and thrive in tropical areas near water.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Australian land hermit crab”, 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: 28 records
February: 15 records
March: 38 records
April: 38 records
May: 88 records
June: 51 records
July: 47 records
August: 100 records
September: 87 records
October: 67 records
November: 18 records
December: 36 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 9–24 m · Deepest record: 25 m

0–10 m: 6 records
10–20 m: 1 records
20–30 m: 10 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 10–28 °C

10–12 °C: 11 records
12–14 °C: 0 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 6 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 0 records
26–28 °C: 8 records

Photos

(c) Romain Boisseau, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Tony Eales, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Mark Clarke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kerri-Lee Harris, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Mark Clarke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) porkytama, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) James Cunningham, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Aussie hermit crab, Australian land hermit crab, Australian terrestrial hermit crab

Names in 2 more languages

German: Australischer Landeinsiedlerkrebs
Japanese: レンガオカヤドカリ

Similar species

Indo hermit crab
Coenobita brevimanus
Coenobita cavipes
Purple land hermit crab
Coenobita perlatus
Ruggie hermit crab
Coenobita rugosus
Purple Indonesian Hermit Crab
Coenobita violascens
Red Sea Land Hermit Crab
Coenobita scaevola

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).
128 open-data records from 2018 to 2020.
Species data updated November 1, 2026.