Devil Crab

Zosimus aeneus

• Group: Crab
• Typical depth: 0–10 m
• Max size: 10 cm
• For divers: safe

Hidden under reef rocks by day and out hunting at night, the devil crab is one of the most poisonous crabs in the sea, its shell and flesh laced with saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin that have killed people who ate it. It grows to about ten centimetres on shallow coral reefs and should never be handled or eaten.

Taxonomy: Animalia › Arthropoda › Malacostraca › Decapoda › Xanthidae › Zosimus

Species data via the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), AphiaID 209076.