Cape Rock Crab

Guinusia chabrus

Crustaceans
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth5–10 m
Water temperature13–23 °C
Best monthsJanuary, March, and April
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Lisa Bennett · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

The red rock crab is a marine large-eyed crab of the family Plagusiidae. It is found in the southern Indian and southern Pacific Oceans, including South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Guinusia chabrus”, 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: 636 records
February: 432 records
March: 577 records
April: 643 records
May: 500 records
June: 451 records
July: 230 records
August: 272 records
September: 411 records
October: 476 records
November: 432 records
December: 473 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–10 m · Deepest record: 60.4 m

0–10 m: 883 records
10–20 m: 199 records
20–30 m: 4 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 3 records
50–60 m: 1 records
60–70 m: 4 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 13–23 °C

12–14 °C: 30 records
14–16 °C: 234 records
16–18 °C: 29 records
18–20 °C: 8 records
20–22 °C: 16 records
22–24 °C: 4 records

Photos

(c) Roderic Page, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Roderic Page · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Shaun Lee, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Shaun Lee · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Eamonn Culhane, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Evelyn Z, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Cape Rock Crab, Red Rock Crab

Other scientific names: Cancer chabrus, Grapsus (Plagusia) capensis, Marestia elegans, Marestia mawsoni, Plagusia chabrus, Plagusia gaimardi, Plagusia spinosa, Plagusia tomeniosa, Plagusia tomentosa, Plagusia tomentosus

Similar species

Cleft-fronted Bait Crab
Guinusia dentipes
Shiny Bait Crab
Davusia glabra
Euchirograpsus polyodous
Euchirograpsus timorensis

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).
2,443 open-data records from 1903 to 2023.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.

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