---
title: "Velvet Swimming Crab"
description: "Necora puber — Other animals. The velvet crab (Necora puber), also known as the velvet swimming crab or devil crab, is a species of crab from the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/velvet-swimming-crab
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Velvet Swimming Crab

> Necora puber — Other animals. The velvet crab (Necora puber), also known as the velvet swimming crab or devil crab, is a species of crab from the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

- Scientific name: *Necora puber*
- Category: `other` (Other animals)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 4069
- Wikidata: [Q853487](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q853487)
- iNaturalist taxon: [210219](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/210219)

## Names

- en: Velvet Swimming Crab
- de: Samtkrabbe
- es: Nécora
- fr: Étrille
- nl: Fluwelen zwemkrab

## Countries with the most observations

GB (2016), FR (709), PT (423), NL (306), IE (179), ES (178), DE (30), JE (22), BE (12), MA (11), IM (6), GG (3)

## Summary

The velvet crab (Necora puber), also known as the velvet swimming crab or devil crab, is a species of crab from the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

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

## Photo

![Velvet Swimming Crab](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/velvet-swimming-crab/medium.jpg)

Photo: Ben Holt · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/185745827

## Machine access

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