This dark purple and cream coloured shore crab is quite rounded in shape. It ranges from Townsville in central Queensland south to Sydney, New South Wales. It lives close to the river mouth, near the sea.

It digs its burrow in in firm soil, ranging from dirty sand, firm mud to hard-packed earth, among loose shale, stones and mangrove roots.

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Oval Spider Crab, Halicarcinus ovatus

This Spider Crab is very small and is easy to miss unless it is seen moving around on seagrass beds of rocky ocean shores and estuaries.Its bold colours which may be red-white, red-black, and brown-white break up the outline and this aids its excellent camouflage.

This crab has a southern distrib-ution, ranging from Port Stephens, New South Wales around southern Australia to central Western Australia, just south of Shark Bay.

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References:

Davey, K. 1998. A Photographic Guide to Seashore Life of Australia.
New Holland press, Sydney.