Alamihi

About this species

Metopograpsus messor is a species of grapsid crab that lives in mangroves from East Africa to Fiji.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Metopograpsus messor”, 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: 7 records
February: 8 records
March: 10 records
April: 14 records
May: 10 records
June: 3 records
July: 10 records
August: 5 records
September: 17 records
October: 19 records
November: 12 records
December: 5 records

Depth and water temperature

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–29 °C

24–26 °C: 8 records
26–28 °C: 43 records
28–30 °C: 24 records

Photos

(c) Oleksii Vasyliuk, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Oleksii Vasyliuk, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Hopeland, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Valentin Moser, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jean Jacques Godon, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kristof Zyskowski, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Alamihi, alamihi, Purple Estuarine Rock Crab

Names in 1 more languages

Japanese: ハシリイワガニ

Other scientific names: Cancer messor, Eurycarcinus messor, Grapsus (Pachygrapsus) aethiopicus, Grapsus gaimardi, Grapsus messor

Similar species

Purple Climber Crab
Metopograpsus frontalis
Metopograpsus latifrons
Crab
Metopograpsus oceanicus
Metopograpsus quadridentatus
Cliff crab
Grapsus grapsus
Natal lightfoot crab
Grapsus tenuicrustatus

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).
202 open-data records from 1775 to 2019.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.