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Ocellate Lady Crab
Ovalipes ocellatus
Ovalipes ocellatus is a species of crab from eastern North America. It is most commonly known as the Lady Crab. Other names for it include the Leopard Crab or Atlantic Leopard Crab due to the leopard-like rosette patterns on its shell, the Calico Crab (not to be confused with Hepatus epheliticus), or Ocellated Crab. It has a shell 3 in (7.6 cm) long and only slightly wider, which is covered in clusters of purple spots. It occurs from...
From the article Ovalipes ocellatus on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The carapace of O. ocellatus is slightly wider than long, at 8.9 centimetres (3.5 in) wide, and 7.5 cm (3.0 in) long. The carapace is yellow-grey or light purplish, with "leopardlike clusters of purple dots". It exhibits a limited iridescence as a form of signalling.
Range & habitat
The distribution of Ovalipes ocellatus extends along North America's Atlantic coast from Canada to Georgia. O. ocellatus is "probably the only Ovalipes species common north of Virginia", being replaced by Ovalipes stephensoni to the south.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
What it does
The diet of Ovalipes ocellatus consists predominantly of bivalves, crustaceans including other crabs, polychaetes, cephalopods, and gastropods. It rarely feeds on fish.
Wikipedia: “Diet”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Ovalipes ocellatus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 52521.