
Spiny stone crab
Hapalogaster dentata
- Water temperature14–25 °C
- Best monthsApril, May, and June
- How commonRare
Photo credit: no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
About this species
Hapalogaster dentata, also called the stone crab or the spiny stone crab, is a species of king crab. It is found in shallow waters in the Yellow Sea on the western Korean Peninsula, Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan, and along the coast of Japan as far north as Hokkaido and as far south as Kyushu.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Hapalogaster dentata”, 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: 0 records
- February: 2 records
- March: 11 records
- April: 30 records
- May: 27 records
- June: 27 records
- July: 8 records
- August: 2 records
- September: 2 records
- October: 1 records
- November: 0 records
- December: 3 records
Depth and water temperature
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 14–25 °C
Photos

no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Spiny stone crab
Names in 2 more languages
- Japanese
- イボトゲガニ, イボトゲガニ/ヒラトゲガニ, ヒラトゲガニ
- Korean
- 가시투성어리게
Other scientific names: Lomis dentata
Similar species
Brodie's King CrabNeolithodes brodiei


- Murray king crab
Lithodes murrayi
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).
- 124 open-data records from 1906 to 2020.
- Species data updated November 3, 2026.
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