Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Calappa hepatica
cangrejo de caja suave, Smooth box crab
Caparace width to 80 mm.
Intertidal to 100 m, in sandy and shelly sustrates.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Class
Malacostraca
Order
Decapoda
Suborder
Pleocyemata
Superfamily
Calappoidea
Family
Calappidae
Genus
Calappa
Species
hepatica
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Calappa spinosissima H. Milne Edwards, 1837, Calappa tuberculosa Guérin, 1829, Calappe sandwichien Eydoux & Souleyet, 1842 (not available, not in Latin), Cancer hepatica Linnaeus, 1758, Cancer tuberculatus Herbst, 1785, fide Appeltans et al. (2010)
Origin: Native
Distribution: Australia to French Polynesia and Hawaii, also Clipperton Island, and Ecuador (Galapagos Islands)
- Appeltans, W. Bouchet, P., Boxshall, G.A., Fauchald, K., Gordon, D.P., Hoeksema, B.W., Poore, G.C.B., van Soest, R.W.M., Stöhr, S., Walter, T.C., Costello, M.J. (eds.) (2010) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Available online at http://www.marinespecies.org.
- Hickman, C.P. Jr. Zimmerman, T.L. (2000) A Field Guide to Crustaceans of Galápagos. Sugar Spring Press, Lexington, Virginia, 156 pp.
- IUCN (2010) IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.1. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 April 2010.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Calappa hepatica", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=8463. Accessed 31 October 2026.