Kelp Crab

Pugettia producta

crab facing camera on a bed of eelgrass,with claws raised. reddish and yellow coloring on belly.

Common Name: Kelp Crab

Scientific Name: Pugettia producta

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family: Animalia, Arthropoda, Malacostraca, Decapoda, Epialtidae

Diet: Herbivorous, will resort to bivalves if scarce algae

Habitat: Dense kelp beds, tidepools with high algae, shores, pilings

Range: Baja California, Mexico to Alaska

Identification: Elongated carapace and slender legs, reddish-brown to green coloration on top with lighter color and red spotting on bottom, no hairs on legs

Reproduction: Eggs develop underneath female’s abdomen

Behavior: Keeps itself hidden from the sun, tries masking itself using algae and such in the of spines of its carapace

Predators: Sea Otters

Fact: Parasitic barnacles can cause sterile individuals or convert males into hermaphrodites (has both female and male reproductive organs)

brown crab with a shield-shaped shell on a brown seaweed.
crab on brown seaweed faces camera and lifts its elbows in the air with claws pointed downwards
Citations:Johnson and Snook, 1927.Light, Sol Felty. 2007.Russo, Ron, and Pam Olhausen. 1981.Aleksa, J. 2001“Kelp Crab " University of Puget Sound.