Red Land Crab
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© DIBPImages
Fast Facts
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Classification
- Genus
- Gecarcoidea
- Species
- natalis
- Family
- Gecarcinidae
- Order
- Decapoda
- Class
- Malacostraca
- Subphylum
- Crustacea
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Kingdom
- Animalia
-
- Size Range
- Maximum size up to 12 cm
-
View Bio Regions
- Bio Regions
- Christmas Island Province
Introduction
There are an estimated 45 million Red land crabs on Christmas Island.
Identification
A large, red crab with a rounded carapace. Claws are equal in size. Males are usually larger than females. Females have a broader abdomen than males.
There are an estimated 45 million Red land crabs on Christmas Island.
Image: John Tann© John Tann
Habitat
Rainforest, coastal shore terraces and urban gardens.
Distribution
They are found only on Christmas Island.
Feeding and diet
The land crabs are a key species in the forest ecology. Their diet consists of leaves, fruits, flowers and seedlings and will occasionally eat dead birds and crabs.
Breeding behaviours
Every Oct to Dec they leave the forest on mass and journey to the nearest beach to breed. The timing on the annual migrations is linked to the lunar cycle so that the female crabs can release their eggs into the sea precisely at the turn of the high tide during the last quarter of the moon. The crabs use the same routes from the forest to the coast and back again every year. In some years the streets of Christmas Island are turned into a sea of red with millions of baby land crabs moving into the forests.
Conservation status
Not Listed
