🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨

Coenobita purpureus (colloquially referred to as the purple land hermit crab) is a species of land hermit crab native to Japan. Dubbed ‘Blueberry’ crabs by Felix Wang. Their coloration is usually purple, blue, purple-blue, or purple-red although as young crabs they are colored white.

They typically inhabit and are endemic only along the mainland, oceanic, and continental island coasts of Japan. They are considered to have a very narrow distribution within this northwestern pacific region. Coenobita purpureus deliver their larvae in the summer, which they then disperse to Ogasawara Islands.