What Animal Lives Where

Where has the Caribbean Hermit Crab been recorded?

Coenobita clypeatus occurrence evidence comes from 491 records in 33 countries and territories, from 1874 to 2026. Most records come from United States.

Caribbean Hermit Crab
Caribbean Hermit Crab — Photo (display-sized rendition): ZooFari · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
MalacostracaDecapodaCoenobitidaeCoenobita

Observation evidence passport

Evidence found

491 records across 33 countries and territories, 1874–2026.

Coenobita clypeatus · GBIF taxon key 5178542

Source coverage

CC0 GBIF Animalia occurrence facets, including country, month and year summaries.

Refreshed 2026-09-23. Inspect the taxon on GBIF.

What this means

The species has been recorded in the listed places in the stated source universe. Peak month: February.

12 months reach at least 10% of the peak facet count.

What this does not mean

repeated describes the record pattern, not a formal range, residency, abundance or conservation assessment.

A single record remains evidence of a recording, not proof that a population lives there.

Compare this animal’s observation pattern

When it is recorded

JFMAMJJASOND

Peak month: February. Records cluster in the months an animal is present and being looked for, so a summer peak can reflect observer effort as much as the animal.

Records over time

18742026

Recording effort has risen steeply almost everywhere since the 1990s, so a rising line usually shows more observers rather than more animals.

Where Caribbean Hermit Crab has been recorded

The countries below show where occurrence evidence exists for Caribbean Hermit Crab. They do not define a complete habitat range: survey effort differs by place, and historical or one-off records can appear alongside repeated presence.

PlaceRecordsShare
United States 80
Puerto Rico 52
US Virgin Islands 39
Dominican Republic 33
Bahamas 30
Cuba 23
Mexico 23
Dominica 21
Panama 19
Belize 18
Cayman Islands 16
Trinidad & Tobago 16
Costa Rica 15
Haiti 14
Jamaica 14
Saint Lucia 8
Antigua & Barbuda 7
Honduras 7
Guadeloupe 6
British Virgin Islands 6
Barbados 5
Colombia 5
Venezuela 5
Aruba 4
Martinique 4
Montserrat 4
Bonaire 3
Curaçao 3
St Vincent & the Grenadines 3
ZZ 3
Bermuda 2
Turks and Caicos Islands 2
St Kitts & Nevis 1

Related animals

Others in the family Coenobitidae.

ruggie hermit crab
ruggie hermit crab
234 records
coconut crab
coconut crab
61 records
Red Hermit Crab
Red Hermit Crab
50 records
Record pattern: repeated
Repeated records across many years and months. This is inferred from how many years and months the animal appears in, not from a range map — treat it as evidence, not a formal assessment.