Iron crab

About this species

Ozius deplanatus, commonly known as the black finger crab and the iron crab, is a species of crab found in New Zealand and Australia.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Ozius deplanatus”, 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: 65 records
February: 34 records
March: 64 records
April: 86 records
May: 53 records
June: 38 records
July: 26 records
August: 20 records
September: 38 records
October: 22 records
November: 18 records
December: 38 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0.5 m · Deepest record: 0.5 m

0–10 m: 6 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 16–23 °C

16–18 °C: 12 records
18–20 °C: 7 records
20–22 °C: 9 records
22–24 °C: 12 records

Photos

(c) Stephen Thorpe, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kelvin Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kelvin Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Javier, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ellen Rykers, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Leon Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Emily Roberts, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Iron crab

Other scientific names: Xantho deplanatus

Similar species

Black Finger Crab
Ozius truncatus
Spotted-belly forceps crab
Ozius guttatus
Ozius rugulosus
Ozius tuberculosus
Ozius tricarinatus
Epixanthus dentatus

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).
220 open-data records from 1936 to 2011.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.