This name derives from their aggressive nature as adults and when being shipped to pet stores, they are often packed in soap dishes to prevent them from killing each other.

When young, these crabs typically have a blueish/violet carapace, red–colored legs, and whitish claws.

They are known to be cannibalistic, and consume smaller crabs, small reptiles and amphibians, molluscs, fish, and insects if they can catch them.

While juvenile and adult crabs spend most of their time on dry land, the females must return to the ocean to release their eggs.

The eggs hatch into microscopic larvae, and later on develop into young crabs.