Mosaic boxer crab

Amazing fact

The mosaic boxer crab defends itself by waving its sea anemones when it meets an enemy.

東京都公園協会八丈ビジターセンター

Mosaic boxer crab in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

The mosaic boxer crab defends itself by waving its sea anemones when it meets an enemy.

Source東京都公園協会八丈ビジターセンター — キンチャクガニ

THE REAL WORLD

The real Mosaic boxer crab

Scientific name: Lybia tessellata
Japanese name: キンチャクガニ
Group: Ocean animals

Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Xanthidae
Genus: Lybia

Facts about the real animal.

It lives around Izu Oshima and the Ogasawara Islands, from Amami Oshima to the Yaeyama Islands, and from the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific.

鳥羽水族館 — キンチャクガニ

It holds small sea anemones in its claws.

鳥羽水族館 — キンチャクガニ

It eats animals that the sea anemones have stunned with their stinging venom.

鳥羽水族館 — キンチャクガニ

How the Mosaic boxer crab lives

It lives beneath stones on the seabed. It cannot tear food up with its claws and carry it to its mouth. It seems to carry food to its mouth by sticking it to the sea anemones.

東京都公園協会八丈ビジターセンター宇久井ビジターセンター

Basic data

Diet: Animals paralyzed by anemone stings
Range: Ogasawara Islands, Indian Ocean to South Pacific Ocean, and elsewhere

鳥羽水族館

Where the Mosaic boxer crab has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesJapan World oceans Ocean

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: キンチャクガニ
简体中文: 花纹细螯蟹
繁體中文: 花紋細螯蟹
Español: Cangrejo pom pom
Français: Crabe boxeur à mosaïque

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — キンチャクガニChecked: 2026-11-04
東京都公園協会八丈ビジターセンター — キンチャクガニChecked: 2026-11-07
宇久井ビジターセンター — キンチャクガニChecked: 2026-11-07

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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