Christmas Island red crab
Gecarcoidea natalis
Not assessedPhoto: DIAC images · CC BY 2.0
Crustaceanomnivore
The Christmas Island red crab is a bright red land crab found only on Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Every year, millions of these crabs march to the ocean together in a spectacular mass migration to lay their eggs.
- Their population was once estimated at 43.7 million adults on Christmas Island alone.
- Yellow crazy ants accidentally introduced to the island have killed about one-third of the crabs.
- Roads sometimes close during their migration when crabs blanket the ground completely.
RainforestAustralia
Read more on WikipediaAt a glance
- Classification
- Crustacean
- Scientific name
- Gecarcoidea natalis
- Habitat
- Rainforest
- Regions in this directory
- Australia
- Diet
- omnivore
- Relative size
- medium
