They are commonly known as the "African ghost crab" in English,[3][5] ocypode africain in French, and capuco africano in Spanish.

The palm of the larger cheliped is broad with a granular texture on the upper surface and finely serrated on the bottom edge.

The inner surface of the palm features stridulating (sound-producing) ridges, which is important for identifying different species within the subfamily Ocypodinae.

In gulf ghost crabs, the stridulating ridge is short and composed of a row of 11 to 13 tubercles, spaced more distantly and with striae (thin lines) on the upper half.

The dactyl (tipmost part) of the walking legs lack the dense hair characteristic of tufted ghost crabs.

They are capable of morphological color change, being pinkish in hue during the morning hours, and a darker grey in the afternoon or during rainy days.

At the slightest sign of danger (even when the intruder sighted is still more than 100 ft (30 m) away), they race in a zigzagging path back to their burrows to hide.

[1] African ghost crabs are native to the eastern Atlantic coast of western Africa, from Mauritania to Namibia.

[1] The number and density of ghost crab burrows are regarded as valuable ecological indicators for quickly assessing the impact of human disturbance on beach habitats.

[7][8] A 2011 study discovered that the density and number of African ghost crab burrows tend to be higher and with larger diameter burrows in moderately disturbed beaches in comparison to highly disturbed areas (characterized by the presence of seawalls, foot traffic, and inorganic pollutants).