---
title: "Ecuadorian Hermit Crab"
description: "Coenobita compressus — Other animals. The Ecuadorian hermit crab (Coenobita compressus) also known as the Pacific hermit crab is a species of land hermit crab."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/ecuadorian-hermit-crab
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Ecuadorian Hermit Crab

> Coenobita compressus — Other animals. The Ecuadorian hermit crab (Coenobita compressus) also known as the Pacific hermit crab is a species of land hermit crab.

- Scientific name: *Coenobita compressus*
- Category: `other` (Other animals)
- Habitats: `zoo` (Zoo & pets)
- iNaturalist observations: 8108
- Wikidata: [Q5334405](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5334405)
- iNaturalist taxon: [196626](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/196626)

## Names

- en: Ecuadorian Hermit Crab
- de: Pazifik-Einsiedlerkrebs
- es: Cangrejo ermitaño del Pacífico

## Countries with the most observations

CR (3606), MX (1917), EC (1084), PA (744), CO (196), NI (95), SV (86), GT (20), HN (20)

## Summary

The Ecuadorian hermit crab (Coenobita compressus) also known as the Pacific hermit crab is a species of land hermit crab. It is one of the two land hermit crabs commonly sold in North America as pets, the other being the Caribbean hermit crab (C. clypeatus).

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuadorian_hermit_crab

## Photo

![Ecuadorian Hermit Crab](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/ecuadorian-hermit-crab/medium.jpg)

Photo: Scott Loarie · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/348205319

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/ecuadorian-hermit-crab?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).