Soft Coral Crab (Hoplophrys oatesi) — Habitat, Photos

Q: Where can you find Soft Coral Crab?

Soft Coral Crab can be found in: Laccadive Islands, Marshall Islands, Malaysia West, India West, Israel, Qatar, Oman, Vietnam, Indo-Pacific, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Chagos Islands, Red Sea, Solomon Islands, Yemen, Iran South, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bali, Mariana Islands, Australia West, Saudi Arabia West, Oman North, Malaysia East, Australia North, Somalia East, Japan South, Thailand East, Thailand West, Israel South, Saudi Arabia East, Oman East, Somalia North, Australia East, Egypt East, Australia, Philippines, Japan, New Caledonia, Thailand, Palau, Micronesia, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Maldives, Vanuatu, Singapore, China, Mozambique, Brunei, Tanzania, Madagascar, Seychelles, Myanmar, Kenya, Somalia, Hong Kong, Comoros, South Africa, Mascarene Islands, Cambodia, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, Kiribati, Egypt, Djibouti, Jordan, Eritrea, Sudan, Polynesia.

Hoplophrys is a monotypic genus of crab in the family Epialtidae. It contains the single species Hoplophrys oatesi, also known as the candy crab, Oates's soft coral crab, commensal soft coral crab and Dendronephthya crab.

Description

Hoplophrys oatesi is a very colourful crab that grows from 1.5 to 2 cm. It lives on various species of soft coral in the Dendronephthya genus. It camouflages itself by mimicking the colours of the polyps among which it hides. It adds further camouflage by attaching polyps to its carapace. Colours vary depending on the colour of the coral, and may be white, pink, yellow or red.

The first pair of legs of this species has small claws. The body has pointed spines with a red and white pattern, similar in appearance to the host coral.