Gazami crab

About this species

Portunus trituberculatus, also known as the gazami crab, Japanese swimming crab or horse crab, is a species of crab commonly found off the coasts of East Asia and is closely related to Portunus armatus.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Portunus trituberculatus”, 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: 9 records
February: 7 records
March: 7 records
April: 16 records
May: 22 records
June: 12 records
July: 19 records
August: 66 records
September: 46 records
October: 39 records
November: 14 records
December: 8 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 17–287 m · Deepest record: 287 m

10–20 m: 1 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 2 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110–120 m: 0 records
120+ m: 3 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 10–29 °C

10–12 °C: 1 records
12–14 °C: 0 records
14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 3 records
18–20 °C: 10 records
20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 2 records
24–26 °C: 0 records
26–28 °C: 2 records
28–30 °C: 5 records

Photos

(c) Franz Anthony, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Franz Anthony · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) ippanjin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Karim Haddad, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Yi CHEN, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Karim Haddad, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Gazami crab

Names in 2 more languages

German: Gazami-Schwimmkrabbe
Japanese: ガザミ／ワタリガニ

Other scientific names: Neptunus trituberculatus, Portunus (Portunus) trituberculatus

Similar species

Blue swimming crab
Portunus pelagicus
Portunus armatus
Blood-spotted swimming crab
Portunus sanguinolentus
Portunus convexus
Portunus segnis
hairy swimming crab
Portunus pubescens

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).
191 open-data records from 1907 to 2024.
Species data updated November 6, 2026.