Etisus splendidus is a large red crab commonly seen exposed on lagoon, pinnacle and seaward reefs at night. This species and E. dentatus can be difficult to tell apart from photos. Etisus splendidus is often more red but can range into brown, and E. dentatus is more often brown but can range to red, so color is not a reliable feature. E. dentatus is supposed to have 7-9 lateral spines on each side of the carapace while E. splendidus has more, but this also seems to vary. Further, E. splendidus has more than one large spine at the elbow joint between the last two segments of the cheliped while E. dentatus has only one. This last difference, where we could see it, is the one we primarily used to divide up our photos.
The next two photos taken by Stan Jazwinski may also be Etisus splendidus.
We think these small ones with the white patches between the eyes are juveniles.
This young one by Stan Jazwinski seems colored more like Etisus dentatus, but it clearly has more than one spine at the edge of the segment above the elbow joint, putting it into E. splendidus.
Created 12 September 2018
Updated 15 October 2021