Violet Tree-climbing Crab
Episesarma versicolor
- Water temperature28–30 °C
- Best monthsSeptember, October, and December
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) Eric Lopes, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
About this species
The violet vinegar crab is a swimming crab species in the genus Episesarma. Distributed all over marine and brackish waters of Indo-West Pacific regions. It is harvested by many local fishermen for rich proteinaceous food.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Episesarma versicolor”, 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: 89 records
- February: 72 records
- March: 73 records
- April: 51 records
- May: 61 records
- June: 71 records
- July: 87 records
- August: 104 records
- September: 138 records
- October: 122 records
- November: 105 records
- December: 116 records
Depth and water temperature
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 28–30 °C
Photos
(c) Utain Pummarin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Rainer Breitling, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ashwin Viswanathan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Rainer Breitling, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Huey, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Violet Tree-climbing Crab, Violet Vinegar Crab
Names in 1 more languages
- Thai
- ปูแสมก้ามม่วงปลายขาว
Other scientific names: Sesarma versicolor
Similar species
Thai Vinegar CrabEpisesarma mederi
Red-clawed crabChiromantes haematocheir
Red Inca CrabFasciarma fasciatum
Marble crabMetasesarma obesum
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).
- 115 open-data records from 1982 to 2023.
- Species data updated November 2, 2026.
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