Tips When Identifying
- 1) When trying to ID your crab, pay attention closely to eyes. The easiest way to tell one species apart from another are the eye shape and size.
2) Keep in mind that Purple Pinchers and Ecuadorians are the most common species in the US and Canada, so most likely your crab will be one of these species.
3) Purple Pinchers are commonly misidentified to be many other species because of their wide range of colors, sizes, and shapes. Pay attention to all of the provided pictures so you can get the most accurate ID.
4) Pictures are always best. If you have a crab you can't identify, many experienced members can tell you what type of a crab it is even with bad or blurry pictures. This is what happens when you spend hours upon hours of time at the HCA.
Coenobita compressus Ecuadorian
Coenobita rugosus Ruggie
Coenobita perlatus Strawberry
Coenobita brevimanus Indo
Currently no photos. If you have a good photograph of an Indo, please see the bottom of this post.
Coenobita violascens Viola
Coenobita cavipes Cavipe
Currently no photos. If you have a good photograph of a Cavipe, please see the bottom of this post.
Coenobita variabilis Aussie (only available to Australians)
Currently no photos. If you have a good photograph of an Aussie, please see the bottom of this post.
Contributions
If you would like to donate a photograph of one of your hermit crabs for this guide, please PM me your picture. However, only send in photos if the picture differs from one already posted. Many pictures of the same-looking crab are not effective, but sending in a variation of one species (such as a pink Ruggie compared to a brown Ruggie) will benefit our members more.
As you can see, we are in great need for Indos, Cavipes, and Aussies. If you have any of these pictures, please send them in!
-Kilimanjaro