(Herbst, 1801)
Antennal flagellum excluded from orbital hiatus; posterior border of cephalothorax curved, forming curved postero-lateral junction; 6 antero-lateral teeth; no mesobranchial ridges present on carapace; hand of cheliped swollen, with 3 spines; anterior border of arm of cheliped with 2 spines; male pleopod with short tip. Charybdis (Charybdis) rosea (Hombron and Jacquinot, 1853) is possibly a juvenile of this species. (Davie 1999)
Carapace convex, covered with tomenta, besides the usual transverse ridges one pair on the cardiac region, one oblique granular ridge between the cardiac and branchial region. Front divided into 6 lobes; middle pair the most prominent; the one next to them broader and shorter; the outermost one the smallest and acutest, separated by a deep notch from the inner one. Antero-lateral margin with 6 teeth: the first with outer margin concave, serrated; the second to the fourth serrated on the anterior and the posterior margin; the last the acutest, spiniform, serrated on the anterior margin.
Chelipeds asymmetrical. Merus with 2 spines in distal part of the anterior margin. Carpus with a spine at the inner-distal angle and 3 spinules on the outer surface. Palm with 3 spines on the dorsal surface, of which two side by side in the distal portion and another one at the outer basal angle. Merus of natatory legs with an acuminate spine at distal end of the posterior margin; propodi smooth on the posterior margin.
First pleopod of male stout, distal one-fourth of its length curved laterally at right angle; subtip with a lip-shaped process on the upper surface, a row of spinules on the lower surface. Male abdomen with its third to fifth segments fused, the sixth broader than long, lateral margin slightly converged distally. Carapace length of the male 19.5 mm, breadth 29 mm. (Dai & Yang, 1991)
Type locality: "Ostindien", it may refer to the east coast of India or to the Indo-Malayan Archipelago (Apel & Spiridonov, 1998: 191).
Range: Pakistan - Karachi (Alcock, 1899a, Apel & Spiridonov, 1998); India - Madras, Orissa coast, and Bombay (Alcock, 1899a), Bombay and Udvada (Chhapgar, 1957), Bombay and Madras (Apel & Spiridonov, 1998); Burma - Maungmagan near Tavoy (Chopra & Das, 1937); China - Ningbo and Xiamen (Shen, 1940b), Fujian and Zhejiang (Dai & Yang, 1991); South China Sea; Gulf of Thailand; Malaysia - Kota Baharu, Kelantan (Lanchester, 1902); Singapore (Shen, 1937); Philippines - Davao (Stephenson, 1976); Indonesia - Java Sea, Boom Batang, and Deli (Leene, 1938), Banda Sea (Stephenson, 1972a), Timor and near Banda Neira (Stephenson, 1975); Australia - Cape Bossut to Roebuck, N.W. Australia, Bathurst Island, N.T., Gulf of Carpentaria to Moreton Bay (Stephenson et al., 1957), N. of Broome (Stephenson, 1961), Moreton Bay (Campbell & Stephenson, 1970); 5-11 m.