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Hemigrapsus nudus (Dana, 1851)
Purple Shore Crab
Family: Grapsidae

Species account author: Josephine Hart.
Extracted from Crabs and their relatives of British Columbia.

Introduction to the Crabs, Shrimps and Crayfish of BC

Distribution of Hemigrapsus nudus in British Columbia in British Columbia

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Carapace surface relatively flat and slightly convex anteriorly with a median H-shaped depression. Chelipeds smooth, stout; fingers long and irregularly toothed. Walking legs somewhat flattened, smooth stout and naked.

Size

Carapace: male 48 x 56.2 mm, female 28 x 34 mm.

Colour

Variable, especially in small individuals. Large males usually dark purplish red on the surface of the carapace and with pink or yellow granules in a symmetrical pattern of spots; narrow margins reddish with pale violet granules and yellowish streak posteriorly. Chelipeds reddish with purple splotches; palm violet with reddish spots; fingers violet to white and yellow ventrally, and pubescence pale brown. Walking legs dark purple with some red and yellow patches on joints; claw tan. Ventrally lighter. Eyestalk white, red and brown; cornea black. Occasionally one finds an olive green and yellow male.

Range

Yakobi Island (57°57’N, 135°23’W), Lisianski Strait, Alaska, to Turtle Bay, Mexico; intertidal.

Distribution In British Columbia

Common.

Origin Status	Provincial Status	BC List (Red Blue List)	COSEWIC
Unlisted	Unlisted	Unlisted	Unlisted

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer--the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.

Central Pacific Crustacea (Decapoda & Stomatopoda) Database
A Snail's Odyssey

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