No photo available
Smooth box crab
Calappa calappa
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 209498, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Smooth box crab
- Scientific
- Calappa calappa
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Crabs
- Family
- Calappidae (box crabs)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 13 cm (carapace width)
- Depth and habitat
- Sea floor (benthic), recorded from 0 to 80 m
- IUCN status
- NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE)
Description
A box crab with a smooth, domed shell and broad, flat claws held over its face. It buries itself in sand and cracks open snail shells with its claws.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=3, 3 observers).
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Calappa-calappa.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=209498
- inaturalist.org /taxa/469703
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Calappidae_-_Calappa_calappa.JPG
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.