#4565 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans

Ocellate Lady Crab

Ovalipes ocellatus

🦀 Crabs & other crustaceans 📍 outside Europe

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

1. © smithsonian_marinegeo · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
2. © skcoulter · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Joe Kunkel · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © cyric · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
5. © maggidy · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
6. © Sara Rall · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. Rockport, MA, USA:© Alex Shure · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. Beaubassin East, NB, Canada:© Evan and Liam Houlahan · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. Martha's Vineyard, Edgartown, MA, US:© petegilmore · CC BY-NC 4.0
10. Martha's Vineyard, Edgartown, MA, US:© petegilmore · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

Ovalipes ocellatus is a species of crab from eastern North America. It is most commonly known as the Lady Crab . Other names for it include the Leopard Crab or Atlantic Leopard Crab due to the leopard-like rosette patterns on its shell, the Calico Crab (not to be confused with Hepatus epheliticus ), or Ocellated Crab. 6 cm) long and only slightly wider, which is covered in clusters of purple spots. It occurs from...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 5,535iNaturalist 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.
5,535 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1799 (227 years ago).

fact sheet

English: Ocellate Lady Crab
scientific name: Ovalipes ocellatus
class: Malacostraca
order: Decapoda
family: Geryonidae
sightings in NL: 0
sightings worldwide: 5,535
GBIF records in NL: 0
weight: —
length: —
lifespan: —
named: 1799 by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst

Sources: iNaturalist taxon 52521, Wikidata Q7113228, GBIF 2225609, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.