Christmas Island red crab: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Christmas Island red crab lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Gecarcoidea natalis
Group	Crabs, lobsters & shrimps
Found in	1 country
Continents	Asia
Length	12 cm (maximum)
Diet (main food)	carcass, seedling, fruit, leaf, flower
Class	Crustacean
Order	Decapoda
Family	Gecarcinidae

Where does the Christmas Island red crab live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Christmas Island red crab in 1 country or territory across Asia.

Christmas Island

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a Christmas Island red crab?

Wikidata records the following for the Christmas Island red crab: length 12 cm (maximum).

What does a Christmas Island red crab eat?

Wikidata lists the main food source of the Christmas Island red crab as: carcass, seedling, fruit, leaf, flower.

What kind of animal is the Christmas Island red crab?

The Christmas Island red crab (Gecarcoidea natalis) is a crustacean in the order Decapoda and the family Gecarcinidae, genus Gecarcoidea. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Christmas Island red crab

The Christmas Island red crab (Gecarcoidea natalis) is a species of land crab that is endemic to Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean. Although restricted to a relatively small area, an estimated 43.7 million adult red crabs once lived on Christmas Island alone, but the accidental introduction of the yellow crazy ant is believed to have reduced the population by about a third. Christmas Island red crabs make an annual mass migration to the sea to lay their eggs in the ocean. As of 2020 the red crab had not been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and it was not listed on their Red List. During the annual mass migration to the sea for spawning, millions of crabs emerge at the same time, thickly carpeting the ground. Authorities institute road closures and detours as necessary.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Christmas Island red crab (revision 1353959820), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q1934004 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).