New Zealand Hermit Crab

About this species

Pagurus novizealandiae, or the New Zealand hermit crab, is one of sixty species of hermit crab endemic to New Zealand.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Pagurus novizealandiae”, 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: 124 records
February: 64 records
March: 103 records
April: 98 records
May: 76 records
June: 52 records
July: 37 records
August: 37 records
September: 77 records
October: 94 records
November: 83 records
December: 93 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–10 m · Deepest record: 893.5 m

0–10 m: 31 records
10–20 m: 1 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 1 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 12–18 °C

10–12 °C: 2 records
12–14 °C: 3 records
14–16 °C: 2 records
16–18 °C: 35 records

Photos

(c) Saryu Mae 前朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) M Rutherford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kelvin Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Leon Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jacqui Geux, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: New Zealand Hermit Crab

Other scientific names: Bernhardus novizealandiae, Bernhardus novi-zealandiae, Eupagurus novizealandiae

Similar species

Long-clawed hermit crab
Pagurus longicarpus
Flatclaw hermit
Pagurus pollicaris
Pagurus filholi
Pagurus lanuginosus
Pagurus minutus
Pagurus albidianthus

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).
325 open-data records from 1964 to 2018.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.