Red Land Crab

Red Land Crab, Gecarcoide natalis

Where do they live?
In Australia you can only see Red Land Crabs on Christmas Island.

What is their habitat?
The whole estimated 45 million Red Land Crabs love rainforests, coastal shore terraces and urban gardens.

What’s special about them?
During the breeding season, adult Red Land Crabs leave the forests and people’s backyards and head for the nearest beach. This turns Christmas Island into a massive sea of red, creating one of the natural world’s most amazing and unforgettable sights. Red Land Crabs, on the same routes they use every year, clamber down cliffs and stream over roads as they head to and from the sea. Don’t worry about the high Red Land Crab death toll on Christmas Island’s roads because special crab crossings and tunnels have been built by the locals who want to save as many of these reckless travellers as they can.

What do they eat?
Red Land Crabs are a key species in the forest environment. Naturally they eat what they find there so their diet includes leaves, fruits, flowers and seedlings and the occasional dead bird or even another crab.

How do they reproduce?
Every October to December, Red Land Crabs leave the forests in their millions and journey to the nearest beach to breed. The timing of the annual migrations has to be exactly linked to the lunar cycle so that the female crabs can release their eggs into the sea precisely at the turn of the high tide during the last quarter of the moon.

What else do I need to know?
Red Land Crabs are large and very red, with quite a rounded carapace (shell). Unusually for a crab, their claws are equal in size. Overall, males are usually larger than females, but females have a broader abdomen than males. These crabs can reach a maximum size of up to 12 centimetres.

Where do they fit in the tree of life?
Species: natalis
Genus: Gecarcoidea
Family: Gecarcinidae
Order: Decapoda
Class: Malacostraca
Subphylum: Crustacea
Phylum: Arthropoda
Kingdom: Animalia

What is their Conservation Status?
Red Land Crabs do not have an IUCN listing.