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  3. Marbled Rock Crab

One of the 22 crabs on WAnimals

Marbled Rock Crab (Pachygrapsus marmoratus)

Malacostracans · Decapoda · Grapsidae

Marbled Rock Crab

Pachygrapsus marmoratus

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria.

Spotted something wrong?

The marbled rock crab is a decapod crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura. It is found on European coasts, from the British Isles to the Black Sea.

Size

up to 4.5 cm

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Ocean
27countries38parks71dive sites1same family

AI-generated images: illustrations, not photographs.

Fun facts

  • It spends much of its time out of the water but needs to wet its gills regularly, so it always lives in the band where the waves break.
  • It can run sideways over vertical, wet rock faster than a person can follow it with their eyes.
  • This is the crab almost everyone has seen scuttling over the rocks of Mediterranean and Atlantic shores, named in Spanish for the dark marbling of its carapace.
  • It is semi-terrestrial: it spends a great deal of time out of the water and returns only to wet its gills.
  • The shape of its claws and the structure of its populations vary with how exposed the shore is to wave action.

Life cycle and biology

Habitat and environment
Intertidal rocks and breakwaters of the Mediterranean and the nearby Atlantic

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Pachygrapsus marmoratus

Where to find it

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Where to see it

Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented — showing 20 of 109.

Related species

Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Marbled Rock Crab — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.

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This page in other languages: Español · Deutsch · Français · Português · Italiano

The pins mark the parks and dive sites where its presence is documented.

See its range on the interactive map→
Doñana National ParkSpain
TeideSpain
CalanquesFrance
Cinque TerreItaly
Alonissos and the Northern SporadesGreece
IchkeulTunisia
Majjistral ParkMalta
GarajonaySpain
TimanfayaSpain
Port-CrosFrance
Zenobia WreckCyprus
Medes IslandsSpain
Cap de CreusSpain
El Hierro / La RestingaSpain
Museo Atlántico (Lanzarote)Spain
Zakynthos (loggerhead turtle)Greece
Kastellorizo (Blue Cave)Greece
Malta (Blue Hole Gozo / Um El Faroud)Malta
Tavolara (Sardinia)Italy
Plemmirio Marine Reserve (Sicily)Italy
See all 38 parks
See all 71 dive sites
Ocean SunfishVulnerable

Ocean Sunfish

Mola mola

Blue CrabNot Evaluated

Blue Crab

Callinectes sapidus

Common Spiny LobsterVulnerable

Common Spiny Lobster

Palinurus elephas

Common Hermit CrabNot Evaluated

Common Hermit Crab

Pagurus bernhardus

Rugose Squat LobsterNot Evaluated

Rugose Squat Lobster

Munida rugosa

Not Evaluated

Long-legged Spider Crab

Macropodia rostrata

CountriesSpain
ParksDoñana National ParkSpain
TagsOmnivore
Omnivore
Diurnal
Solitary
Ocean
Crustacean

Europe16

Asia6

Africa5

Spain
Italy
Greece
Croatia
Portugal
France
Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
France
Greece
Italy
Malta
Monaco
Montenegro
Portugal
Romania
Slovenia
Spain
Ukraine
Georgia
Israel
Lebanon
Russia
Syria
Türkiye
Algeria
Egypt
Libya
Morocco
Tunisia