They are common shore crabs in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, inhabiting deep burrows in the intertidal zone.

Characteristics of the subfamily include one claw being larger than the other, thick and elongated eyestalks, and a box-like body.

A small orifice with edges thickly fringed with hair is found between the bases of the second and third pairs of walking legs.

[8] Ghost crab species can be most reliably identified by means of the area where they were recovered, the presence of "horns" (styles) on their eyestalks (exophthalmy), the pattern of stridulating (sound-producing) ridges on the inside surface of the palms of their larger claws, and the shape of the gonopods in males.

Ocypode cursor, found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, also possesses a tuft of bristles at the end of its eyestalks.

[5] Both exophthalmy and stridulating ridges, however, can not be reliably used to determine phylogenetic relationships between different species of ghost crabs.

They must periodically wet their gills with seawater,[1][9] usually by taking water from moist sand or by running into the surf and letting the waves wash over them.

The lateral teeth of the gastric mill possess a series of comb-like structures that rub against the median tooth to produce stimulation with dominant frequencies below 2 kHz.

[15] Ghost crabs also have the ability to change colors to match their surroundings by adjusting the concentration and dispersal of pigments within their chromatophores.

[6] In a 2013 study in Singapore, Ocypode ceratophthalma was also discovered to change color in response to the time of day.

In a span of 24 hours, they were observed to alternate between lighter and darker coloration, being lightest at midday and darkest at night.

It lets ghost crabs avoid changing color when in temporary shadow (for example within their burrows) and thus still remain inconspicuous when they are once again illuminated by daylight.

[1] Ghost crabs dominate sandy shores in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, replacing the sandhoppers that predominate in cooler areas.

[1] Three species are found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and two occur in the eastern Pacific coast of the Americas.

[5] Ghost crabs are negatively affected by human activity on sandy beaches, such as sand trampling by foot traffic, the building of seawalls, or the presence of inorganic pollutants.