Commercial-bycatch
Guides
Calappidae
Box Crabs
Calappidae is a family of marine crabs commonly known as box crabs, comprising approximately 16 genera including both extant and fossil taxa. Seven genera are known only from the fossil record, with calappid fossils documented from the Cretaceous to Recent (66.043 Ma to present) across Europe, the United States, Mexico, Central America, Australia, and Japan. The family is characterized by a distinctive box-like carapace morphology and is distributed in tropical and temperate marine waters worldwide.