Spotted hermit crab

About this species

Dardanus megistos, the white-spotted hermit crab or spotted hermit crab, is a species of hermit crab belonging to the family Diogenidae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Dardanus megistos”, 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: 120 records
February: 138 records
March: 136 records
April: 171 records
May: 158 records
June: 122 records
July: 166 records
August: 152 records
September: 170 records
October: 146 records
November: 146 records
December: 133 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–15 m · Deepest record: 15 m

0–10 m: 9 records
10–20 m: 24 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 13–30 °C

12–14 °C: 1 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 3 records
22–24 °C: 9 records
24–26 °C: 26 records
26–28 °C: 11 records
28–30 °C: 22 records

Photos

(c) rcoliveira84, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Shelomi Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Shelomi Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Mike Burnett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Spotted hermit crab, Whitespotted hermit, White-spotted hermit crab, spotted hermit crab, whitespotted hermit, white-spotted hermit crab

Names in 5 more languages

German: Weißpunkteinsiedler, Weißpunkt-Einsiedlerkrebs
French: Bernard l'ermite à points blancs, Pagure pointillé, Pagure pointillé (Le)
Japanese: コモンヤドカリ
Thai: ปูเสฉวนยักษ์จุดขาว
Simplified Chinese: 巨型真寄居蟹, 斑點真寄居蟹

Other scientific names: Cancer megistes, Cancer megistos, Dardanus jordani, Dardanus megsitos, Dardanus spinimanus, Pagurus megistos, Pagurus punctulatus, Pagurus spinimanus

Similar species

Striated hermit crab
Dardanus arrosor
Mauve Eyed Hermit Crab
Dardanus crassimanus
Pale anemone hermit
Dardanus deformis
Black-eyed hermit crab
Dardanus lagopodes
Anemone hermit crab
Dardanus pedunculatus
Jeweled anemone hermit
Dardanus gemmatus

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).
423 open-data records from 1804 to 2023.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.