No photo available
Thin-shelled rock crab
Grapsus tenuicrustatus
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 207529, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Thin-shelled rock crab
- Scientific
- Grapsus tenuicrustatus
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Crabs
- Family
- Grapsidae (shore crabs)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 8 cm (carapace width)
- Depth and habitat
- Shore: beaches, rocks and coastal vegetation at and above the high-tide line
- IUCN status
- NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE)
Description
The thin-shelled rock crab is a flat, fast crab with a mottled red, brown and green shell, seen scuttling over beach rock, harbour walls and jetties just above the waterline. It grazes algae from the rocks and is very quick to dash away or leap between rocks when approached.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=5); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=182, 127 observers).
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Grapsus-tenuicrustatus.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=207529
- inaturalist.org /taxa/61373
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Grapsus_tenuicrustatus-dorsal.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.