The seven-eleven crab is a good sized crab, getting as large as five or six inches across its smooth and thick shell. By day, the crab holes up in the reefs nooks and crannies, resting up for a night of foraging. Dinner includes molluscs and marine snails, which they gain access to with their massive chelae (claws).
Inhabiting shallow reef flats, as well as reef slopes, is the playfully splotched Carpilius maculatus. It is known locally as 'alakuma, or the seven-eleven crab, due to the seven conspicuous red spots (four near the eyes and three in the center) with four more less prominent along the back edges of its carapace, making a total of eleven, though some reports have varying numbers of spots. Legend has it that a hungry god thought he would make a nice meal of the 'alakuma, but the crab pinched back, drawing a bit of blood. After several attempts and a few more pinches from the crab's powerful claws, the god eventually got his supper, but the crab's descendants sport the bloody prints of its captor. The seven-eleven crab is a good sized crab, getting as large as five or six inches across its smooth and thick shell. By day, the crab holes up in the reefs nooks and crannies, resting up for a night of foraging. Dinner includes molluscs and marine snails, which they gain access to with their massive chelae (claws).
3 Comments
Tag
7/6/2016 03:09:10 pm
Just saw this crab while I was snorkeling at mile marker 14 just south of Lahaina, Maui. It was about 11am and though typically they come out at night, he was definitely crawling around on shallow reef in midday. Seemed larger than the mentioned 5-6 inches across. It was missing the left claw. Cool sighting!
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Tyler
5/8/2020 02:47:07 pm
My kids and I just saw one today and was looking up what kind of crab. We actually saw him on rocky shore on Hickam Air Force Base just south of Dog Beach. Definitely one of the most unique crabs I have seen. Awesome post, thanks.
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Bryan W
4/7/2022 03:42:38 pm
Spotted one of these in Hilo, on the shore by 4 mile ;)
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