Christmas Island Red Crabs Brochure
Environment Australia, 2002
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About the Brochure
Christmas Island supports a wide range of unique and unusual species and habitats, and is of great international conservation and scientific interest. There are 14 species of land crabs found on the Island, and the Red Crab is by far the most obvious. Millions of these bright red land crabs live in shady areas all over the island. Each year the crabs migrate to and from the sea in large numbers. This annual spectacle attracts the interest of national and international visitors as well as the local community.
Red Crabs are important in the Christmas Island rainforest ecosystem. They eat fallen vegetation, leaves and fruit, and recycle the nutrients contained in this material. Their burrowing turns and aerates the soil and they are a major determinant of the unique structure and composition of the Christmas Island forest by their selective browsing on seeds and seedlings. Long term scientific studies on the effect that Red Crabs have on the Christmas Island rainforest ecosystem are currently being carried out.
