C. arcuatus is found along the Pacific coast of North and Central America from Mexico southwards.

[1] Its diet comprises fish, molluscs, shrimp and plant matter.

[2] Occasionally, populations become established in bays in southern California, which are thought to represent single cohorts transported as larvae; these populations typically die out within a few years.

[1] A small fishery for this species is carried out in Costa Rica, run by 10–15 fishermen in the Golfo de Nicoya.

[3] The fishery is subject to a maximum of 1600 traps, but the size of caught males was already decreasing in 2009, and the market appeared to be saturated.