Category: Crabs and Shrimp view all from this category

Description 1" (35 mm) long, 3/4" (19 mm) wide. Living in snail shell. Pear-shaped. Olive brown. Bright blue bands near tips of walking legs, pale blue pincer tips. Antennae retractable. 5th pair of walking legs turned upward. Abdomen soft, cylindrical, long, with reduced appendages.

Habitat On rocky shores in tidepools on gravel bottoms and among kelp holdfasts; between high- and low-tide lines, to water more than 50’ (15 m) deep.

Range Alaska to Baja California.

Discussion Adults of this species show a marked preference for the shells of the Black Turban Snail. This crab is common higher tidepools and under rocks drained at low tide.