Great spider crab

About this species

Leptomithrax gaimardii is a species of crab in the Majidae family, first described by Henri Milne-Edwards in 1834 as Paramithrax gaimardii, from a specimen found in New Zealand waters by Joseph Paul Gaimard who is honoured by the species epithet.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Leptomithrax gaimardii”, 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: 36 records
February: 36 records
March: 110 records
April: 177 records
May: 171 records
June: 269 records
July: 1,053 records
August: 330 records
September: 548 records
October: 411 records
November: 171 records
December: 53 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 14–63 m · Deepest record: 63 m

10–20 m: 1 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 2 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 15–21 °C

14–16 °C: 69 records
16–18 °C: 9 records
18–20 °C: 6 records
20–22 °C: 2 records

Photos

(c) ttsquid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Daniel Eisenhauer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Josh Nitschke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Josh Nitschke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lawrence Hylton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Great spider crab

Other scientific names: Leptomithrax spinulosus, Paramithrax (Leptomithrax) australiensis, Paramithrax gaimardii

Similar species

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).
354 open-data records from 1896 to 2005.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.