#4541 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans

Purple Shore Crab

Hemigrapsus nudus

🦀 Crabs & other crustaceans 📍 outside Europe

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Dan Hershman · CC BY 4.0
2. © Thomas Shahan · CC BY 4.0
3. © passiflora4 · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Eric Running · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © mcsundermillanmeyer · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © Alison Young · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. © Jesse Rorabaugh · CC0
8. © Alexandria 'Alex' Wenninger · CC BY 4.0
9. © atruax · CC BY-NC 4.0
10. © Eric Brunschwiler · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The purple shore crab , Hemigrapsus nudus , is a common crab of the family Varunidae. It can be found sheltering under rocks in inter-tidal areas along the west coast of North America, from Alaska to Baja California in Mexico. This crab primarily eats sea lettuce and other green algae, and occasionally scavenges dead animals.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 15,910iNaturalist observations

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
15,910 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by James Dwight Dana in 1851 (175 years ago).