Meet ‘alakuma the Seven-Eleven Crab!

This large crab is the most famous crab in all of the Indo-Pacific and even has it own Hawaiian song! You can easily recognize this six inch-wide crab because of its obvious blood red markings on its smooth shell. The crab moves about the reef slowly but don’t let that fool you.

If you try to catch it you might just get a bloody hand as it can grab you with its large claws with lightening speed and pinch you with enough force to break the skin. It has 11 red spots on its shell which gives it is name, the “seven-eleven crab:” seven large spots and four smaller sports along the back ridge of its shell.

In old Hawaii there is a story of a hungry god who tried to grab this big crab and got pinched, leaving bloody fingerprints on its shell.

The crab escaped only to be grabbed again and pinching the god once more and receiving more bloody finger prints. But the third time the god won and had the crab for dinner, but to this day all of the ‘alakuma crabs decedents bear the marks of the god’s bloody finger prints!

The ‘alakuma crab is most active at night and eats all kinds of small animals and algae. I have observed them feeding on dead fish, of which they strip pieces of flesh off the bones with their enlarged claws. They usually hide in caves and holes in the reef during the day and can often be spotted sharing a cave with a large moray eel. Most of the sea creatures stay away from these crabs due to their powerful claws, but sharks and monk seals will eat them from time to time.

This crab also seems to be quite grumpy with fellow seven-eleven crabs, and they usually have their own part of the reef that they live on by themselves, except during breeding season.

To learn more about this unique Hawaiian crab visit the underwater educational web page at www.underwater2web.com where there are movies of the ‘alakuma in a video, “The World’s Guide to Hawaiian Reef Creatures.”