Zosimus aeneus
species of crustacean
Zosimus aeneus, also known as the devil crab, toxic reef crab, and devil reef crab, is a species of crab that lives on coral reefs in Indo-Pacific, from East Africa to Hawaii. It grows to a size of about 60 mm × 90 mm (2.4 in × 3.5 in) and has a distinctive pattern of brownish blotches on a paler background. It is potentially lethal due to the presence of neurotoxins tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin in its flesh and shell.
Taxonomy
Zosimus aeneus was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It was transferred to the genus "Zozymus" by James Dwight Dana in 1852, which was replaced with Zosimus by Mary J. Rathbun in 1907. It is the type species of the genus Zosimus.
Description
Zosimus aeneus reaches a size of 60 by 90 millimetres (2.4 in × 3.5 in). It is "a well known brightly coloured and strikingly patterned species": its carapace and legs (including the claws) are marked with a characteristic pattern of red or brown patches on a pale brown or cream background. The carapace is deeply grooved, and the walking legs have prominent crests.
Distribution and habitat
Zosimus aeneus is found across a large part of the Indo-Pacific, from South Africa to the Red Sea, and as far east as Japan, Australia and Hawaii.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Zosimus aeneus” as species of crustacean. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of crustacean. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5221438. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1758, 1852 and 1907.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zosimus aeneus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.