CreatureData

Reef box crab

Calappa hepatica (Linnaeus, 1758)

Status not recordedcrabs and lobsters

The reef box crab (Calappa hepatica) is a species in the family Calappidae, order Decapoda.

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Quick facts about the reef box crab

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the reef box crab live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the reef box crab as introduced in 1 country.

  1. Türkiye

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the reef box crab endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the reef box crab classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classMalacostraca
  4. orderDecapoda
  5. familyCalappidae
  6. genusCalappa
  7. SpeciesCalappa hepatica (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Calappa sandwichien, Calappa spinocissima, Calappa spinosissima, Calappa tuberculata var. sandwichien, Calappa tuberculosa, Calappe spinosissima, Calappe tuberculata, Cancer afata, Cancer hepatica, Cancer tuberculatus

Other names and names in other languages (10)
  • Common box crabEnglish
  • Smooth box crabEnglish
  • Calappe aux longs yeuxFrench
  • pokipokiHawaiian
  • calappa del reefItalian
  • ソデカラッパJapanese
  • Caranguejo-cofre-de-recifePortuguese
  • ปูฤๅษีปมThai
  • 肝葉饅頭蟹Chinese
  • Crabe honteux de récifFrench

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the reef box crab

Other species in the same genus Calappa.

CompareReef box crab vs Giant box crabReef box crab vs Mediterranean shame-faced crabReef box crab vs Lumpy box crabReef box crab vs Flame box crab

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the reef box crab an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the reef box crab as introduced in 1 country: Türkiye, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the reef box crab?

The reef box crab (Calappa hepatica) belongs to the family Calappidae in the order Decapoda.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Reef box crab (Calappa hepatica). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/reef-box-crab

MLA

“Reef box crab (Calappa hepatica).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/reef-box-crab.

BibTeX
@misc{reef_box_crab_2026,
  title = {Reef box crab (Calappa hepatica)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/reef-box-crab},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}