Purple Indonesian Hermit Crab
Coenobita violascens
- Water temperature26–29 °C
- Best monthsApril, July, and August
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) Jason Alexander, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Jason Alexander · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Coenobita violascens is a species of land hermit crab from family Coenobitidae. It is native to the Indonesia, Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, and Tanzania.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Coenobita violascens”, 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: 131 records
- February: 139 records
- March: 118 records
- April: 172 records
- May: 129 records
- June: 129 records
- July: 173 records
- August: 186 records
- September: 136 records
- October: 157 records
- November: 146 records
- December: 148 records
Depth and water temperature
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 26–29 °C
Photos
(c) Павлик Лисицын, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Toby Y, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Catarina Lobato, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Teja Yantrapalli, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Purple Indonesian Hermit Crab, Viola, Viola Land Hermit Crab
Names in 3 more languages
- Japanese
- コムラサキオカヤドカリ
- Thai
- ปูเสฉวนบกสีม่วง
- Simplified Chinese
- 深紫陸寄居蟹, 藍紫陸寄居蟹
Other scientific names: Cenobita violascens
Similar species
Indo hermit crabCoenobita brevimanus
Purple land hermit crabCoenobita perlatus
Ruggie hermit crabCoenobita rugosus
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).
- 362 open-data records from 2006 to 2013.
- Species data updated November 1, 2026.
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