Cuban crocodile
Crocodylus rhombifer Cuvier, 1807
CRCritically Endangeredcrocodilians
The cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) is a reptile in the crocodilian subgroup, belonging to the family Crocodylidae and the order Crocodylia. It falls in the large size class, with a representative adult body mass of 57.5 kg, and checklists record it in Cuba.
Quick facts about the cuban crocodile
The IUCN Red List assesses it as Critically Endangered (CR), a threatened category. It produces 1 clutch per year of 30 eggs, which incubate for 69 days, and reaches sexual maturity at 6.5 years.
- Weight
- 57.5 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- up to 2.3 msrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 18.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 38.2 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- freshwater, wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 69 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 30 – 40src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 6.5 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the cuban crocodile
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the cuban crocodile live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The cuban crocodile is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ReptileDB (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the cuban crocodile?
The Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) is a small-medium species of crocodile endemic to Cuba. Typical length is 2.1–2.3 m (6 ft 11 in – 7 ft 7 in) and typical weight 70–80 kg (150–180 lb). Large males can reach as much as 3.5 m (11 ft) in length and weigh more than 215 kg (474 lb).
The Cuban crocodile is of interest to biologists for its unique physical and behavioral traits. Long- and strong-legged, it is the most terrestrial of extant crocodiles. Its preferred habitat comprises freshwater and brackish water environments, such as mangrove swamps, coastal lagoons, estuaries, marshes, floodplains, and river deltas. There, the adults feed on fish, turtles and small mammals, while the young eat invertebrates and smaller fish. Mating occurs between May and July. Captive animals have displayed cooperative hunting behavior, and can be taught tricks, suggesting intelligence.
The Cuban crocodile is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Once spread across the Caribbean, its range has dwindled to only the Zapata Swamp, due to hunting by humans. Captive breeding projects are in place to help the species recover. The species' fossil record reveals it had at one point a greater range, with fossil remains being found in the Bahamas, Hispaniola and the Cayman Islands.
From the Wikipedia article “Cuban crocodile” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cuban_crocodile&oldid=1363887085), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the cuban crocodile endangered?
The cuban crocodile is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Critically Endangered species. What the categories mean.
How is the cuban crocodile classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderCrocodylia
- familyCrocodylidae
- genusCrocodylus
- SpeciesCrocodylus rhombifer Cuvier, 1807
Synonyms Crocodilus gravesii, Crocodilus planirostris, Crocodilus rhombifer
Other names and names in other languages (45)
- Kubaanse KrokodilAfrikaans
- تمساح كوبيArabic
- Kuba timsahıAzerbaijani
- Kubakrókódü(ui)Bavarian
- Кубински крокодилBulgarian
- Krokodil KubaBreton
- cocodril de CubaCatalan
- krokodýl kubánskýCzech
- Kùbańsczi krokòdilKashubian
- KubakrokodilGerman
- Kubakrokodil / RautenkrokodilGerman
- RautenkrokodilGerman
- PintoSpanish
- CocodriloSpanish
- Cocodrilo cubanoSpanish
- Cocodrilo de CubaSpanish
- Cocodrilo perlaSpanish
- CriolloSpanish
- LegitimoSpanish
- KuubankrokotiiliFinnish
- Crocodile de CubaFrench
- תנין קובניHebrew
- Kubanski krokodilCroatian
- RombuszkrokodilHungarian
- Buaya kubaIndonesian
- Coccodrillo cubanoItalian
- キューバワニJapanese
- კუბური ნიანგიGeorgian
- 쿠바악어Korean
- Kubos krokodilasLithuanian
- Кубански крокодилMacedonian
- KubakrokodilleNorwegian Bokmål
- Cubansk krokodilleNorwegian Bokmål
- RutekrokodilleNorwegian Bokmål
- RuitkrokodilDutch
- Krokodyl kubańskiPolish
- کیوبنی مگرمچھWestern Panjabi
- Crocodilo-cubanoPortuguese
- Кубинский крокодилRussian
- கியூபா முதலைTamil
- จระเข้คิวบาThai
- Küba TimsahıTurkish
- Крокодил кубинськийUkrainian
- Cá sấu CubaVietnamese
- 古巴鱷Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the cuban crocodile
Other species in the same genus Crocodylus.
Nile crocodile
Crocodylus niloticus
Saltwater crocodile
Crocodylus porosus
Mugger crocodile
Crocodylus palustris
American crocodile
Crocodylus acutus
Siamese crocodile
Crocodylus siamensis
Philippine crocodile
Crocodylus mindorensis
CompareCuban crocodile vs Nile crocodileCuban crocodile vs Saltwater crocodileCuban crocodile vs Mugger crocodileCuban crocodile vs American crocodile
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the cuban crocodile?
The cuban crocodile is a reptile in the crocodilian subgroup. It belongs to the family Crocodylidae, order Crocodylia.
How heavy is the cuban crocodile?
Its representative adult body mass is 57.5 kg, which places it in the large size class.
Is the cuban crocodile endangered?
Yes. The IUCN Red List assesses it as Critically Endangered (CR), a threatened category.
Which countries is the cuban crocodile recorded in?
Checklists record the cuban crocodile in Cuba.
How long does the cuban crocodile live?
Its lifespan is given as 18.3 years, and the highest value reported by our sources is 38.2 years.
How many eggs does the cuban crocodile lay?
It lays 30 eggs per clutch, with 1 clutch per year, and the eggs incubate for 69 days.
When does the cuban crocodile reach maturity?
It reaches sexual maturity at 6.5 years (2,374 days).
Who named the cuban crocodile?
Crocodylus rhombifer was named by Cuvier, 1807.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cuban-crocodile
“Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cuban-crocodile.
@misc{cuban_crocodile_2026,
title = {Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cuban-crocodile},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}