Murray king crab

Lithodes murrayi

Crustaceans
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth635–1,118 m
Water temperature5–25 °C
Best monthsNovember
How commonRare

About this species

Lithodes murrayi, also known as the subantarctic stone crab, is a species of king crab. It lives near islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean on muddy bottoms at depths of 35–1,015 m (115–3,330 ft).

Text from the Wikipedia article “Lithodes murrayi”, 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: 4 records
March: 0 records
April: 0 records
May: 1 records
June: 0 records
July: 0 records
August: 0 records
September: 3 records
October: 0 records
November: 10 records
December: 5 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 635–1,118 m · Deepest record: 1,458 m

80–90 m: 3 records
90–100 m: 1 records
100–110 m: 1 records
110–120 m: 0 records
120–130 m: 0 records
130–140 m: 0 records
140–150 m: 0 records
150–160 m: 0 records
160–170 m: 0 records
170–180 m: 0 records
180–190 m: 0 records
190+ m: 372 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 5–25 °C

4–6 °C: 20 records
6–8 °C: 24 records
8–10 °C: 71 records
10–12 °C: 67 records
12–14 °C: 99 records
14–16 °C: 71 records
16–18 °C: 34 records
18–20 °C: 4 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 1 records

Names and classification

English: Murray king crab, Subantarctic stone crab

Names in 2 more languages

German: Murray Steinkrabbe, Subantarktische Steinkrabbe
French: crabe royal subantarctique

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).
391 open-data records from 1960 to 2015.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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