Japanese mitten crab
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The Japanese mitten crab is also known as a luxury food ingredient.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Japanese mitten crab
- Scientific name
- Eriocheir japonica
- Japanese name
- モクズガニ
- Group
- Freshwater animals
- Class
- Malacostraca
- Order
- Decapoda
- Family
- Varunidae
- Genus
- Eriocheir
It lives in rivers and seas all over Japan, and in Russia, South Korea, China and Taiwan.
Both claws are thickly covered in long, soft hair that looks like bits of seaweed (mokuzu), which gave it its name.
Basic data
- Range
- Rivers and seas throughout Japan, Russia, South Korea, China, and Taiwan
Where the Japanese mitten 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
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
- モクズガニ
- 简体中文
- 日本绒螯蟹
- 繁體中文
- 日本絨螯蟹
- 한국어
- 동남참게
- العربية
- سرطان القفاز الياباني
- Русский
- Японский мохнаторукий краб
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 — モクズガニChecked: 2026-11-04
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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