Steve Maxner of Vineyard Haven has a way with words and a way with shells. He is an artist and beachcomber who creates sculptures of found objects, processing his experiences in the Vietnam War. If you haven’t seen his work, you should. It can be seen on the Martha’s Vineyard Museum website. It is powerful, compelling, and thoughtful.

As is the man that creates it. Steve came to Felix Neck last week with a crab shell that he had never seen before. I recognized it immediately but it took a minute to pull its name out of my brain’s database. The last time I found and wrote about one was in 2006.

The carapace came from a shame-faced crab. Calappa is also known as a box crab because of its bulky shell and large claws that are held in front of its face. Back then, there was little information I could find on this water-bound denizen. That hasn’t changed too much, though I do have some updates on the rarity of this creature.

All of my resources agree on one thing: it is a delightful species that has no reason to be ashamed. Rick Karney, former director of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, reports that he has “seen box crabs in Sengekontacket and Quitsa Ponds. Not in great numbers. They are really cool.”

Derek Perry, a biologist with the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries, enthusiastically shares his experience with the species, saying, “I love those things! I had one in a fish tank for a while. We got them during a lobster settlement survey a number of years ago. All over the state, we set out trays filled with rocks and we got some shame-face box crabs in those collectors. They aren’t regularly encountered in survey gear (aside from the settlement collectors) and they aren’t fished for commercially, so they don’t get much attention. But they are pretty cool looking!” He further noted that there were no other records of this species in the data from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Canada.

This is not surprising, since we are at this crab’s northern range. Consider a perusal of the database of the online nature app, iNaturalist, which shows that the northernmost report of box crabs in the United States was in the Vineyard Sound. There were two reports of these crabs, both by David Remsen, director of marine services at the Marine Biological Laboratory: one in Menemsha Bight in 2015 and that Vineyard Sound sighting in 2012. Around the world, there was only one report further north and that was of a different species of box crab off of the French coast.

To answer Steve’s question of rarity: it would indeed seem a precious find, one that I know he will honor and do justice to in his art. It is perhaps an ironic find for a man who uses his art and beach wanderings to heal and process his painful war memories. There should be no shame for either of these beings — only grace, acceptance and a peaceful existence.

Suzan Bellincampi is islands director for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown and the Nantucket Wildlife Sanctuaries. She is also the author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.