---
title: "Purple Shore Crab"
description: "Hemigrapsus nudus — Autres animaux. The purple shore crab (Hemigrapsus nudus or the naked shore crab) is a common crab of the family Varunidae that is indigenous to the west coast of United States, Canada, and Mexico."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/fr/animal/purple-shore-crab
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Purple Shore Crab

> Hemigrapsus nudus — Autres animaux. The purple shore crab (Hemigrapsus nudus or the naked shore crab) is a common crab of the family Varunidae that is indigenous to the west coast of United States, Canada, and Mexico.

- Scientific name: *Hemigrapsus nudus*
- Category: `other` (Autres animaux)
- Habitats: `sea` (Mer et côte)
- iNaturalist observations: 15616
- Wikidata: [Q3784777](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3784777)
- iNaturalist taxon: [48342](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48342)

## Names

- en: Purple Shore Crab
- es: Cangrejo costero morado

## Countries with the most observations

US (9642), CA (5740)

## Summary

The purple shore crab (Hemigrapsus nudus or the naked shore crab) is a common crab of the family Varunidae that is indigenous to the west coast of United States, Canada, and Mexico. H. nudus was first described in 1847 by Adam White, and in 1851, James Dwight Dana formally classified the species. H. nudus is a small, amphibious crab that is similar physically and behaviorally to Pachygrapsus crassipes and Hemigrapsus oregonensis. The purple shore crab is generally a dark purple color with olive green, red, and white spots. Mating season for H. nudus begins in mid-winter and larval crabs undergo 5 zoeal stages and…

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

## Photo

![Purple Shore Crab](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/purple-shore-crab/medium.jpg)

Photo: Leonel Richard · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15278620

## Machine access

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