Reef Decorator Crab (Camposcia retusa) — Habitat, Photos

Q: Where can you find Reef Decorator Crab?

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

Camposcia retusa is a species of marine crustacea in the family Inachidae. It is known for attaching living sponges and corals to itself, which camouflage it.

Other names: Spider Decorator Crab, Velcro Crab or Harlequin Crab.

Description

Carapace pyriform, dorsally smooth; upper orbit with a postorbital spineagainst which the eyestalk retracts. Eyestalks long and curved. Distal margin of basal antennal article extending beyond anterior margin of eyestalk, green (antennal) gland distinct and more or less distant from junction of basal antennal article and epistome. Third maxilliped with merus narrower than ischium. Chelipeds shorter than any of the ambulatory legs, carpus about half as long as merus, palm only a little longer than carpus, fingers slender, slightly incurved. Joints of ambulatory legs cylindrical.

This crab has a shell size of 3 cm and with the legs it can reach 10 cm.

Distribution

The spider decorator crab is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the Indo-West Pacific area, including the Red Sea.

Range

Type locality: unknown.
Range: Red Sea (Klunzinger, 1906); Gulf of Aqaba - Elat (Griffin & Tranter, 1974); Mozambique - Delagoa Bay (Barnard, 1950); South Africa - Durban (Stebbing, 1918); Madagascar - Nosy Bé (Griffin, 1974); Mauritius (Bouvier, 1915b, Michel, 1964, Griffin & Tranter, 1986a); Pakistan - Karachi (Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1991); Sri Lanka (Alcock, 1895a); Chagos Archipelago; Andamans (Alcock, 1895a); Nicobar Islands (Griffin & Tranter, 1986a); West Malay Peninsula - south-east corner Goh Similan Island (Griffin & Tranter, 1986a); Cocos Islands (Alcock, 1895a); Christmas Island (Griffin & Tranter, 1986a); Japan - Amami-Oshima (Stimpson, 1907), Shimoda (Sakai, 1935), Ajiro, Shimoda, Nanki Shirahama, Gobo and Nagasaki (Sakai, 1938a), Sagami Bay (Sakai, 1965b), Sagami Bay, Shimoda, Wagu, Kii Nagashima, Kushimoto, Kii Minabe, Hachijo-jima, Ogasawara-shoto, Amami-shoto, and Okinawa (Sakai, 1976a), Kushimoto (Miyake, 1983), Wagu, Kii Nagashima, Gobo, Kii Minabe, Nanki Shirahama, and Mimase, Tosa Bay (Muraoka, 1998); Taiwan; China - Paracel Island (Dai et al., 1978, Chen, 1980, Dai & Yang, 1991); Palau (Takeda, 1973d); Indonesia - Ambon (de Man, 1887d), Java Sea and Ambon (Griffin & Tranter, 1986a); Australia; Lord Howe Island (Griffin & Tranter, 1986a); Samoa (Alcock, 1895a, Griffin & Tranter, 1986a); 10-50 m.