Crab Island (Queensland)

Crab Island, called Moent Island in the native language, is a now uninhabited island west of Muttee Heads and the coastal community of Seisia which is adjacent to Bamaga at the tip of Cape York Peninsula within the Endeavour Strait in the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...

in Queensland, Australia. It is around . The distance to the closest mainland (close to Slade Point) is . The original inhabitants were the Apukwi branch of the Ankamuti. Crab Island lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea in the southwestern part of the Torres Strait, facing the Arafura Sea to the west. It is the most significant breeding ground of the

flatback turtle The Australian flatback sea turtle (''Natator depressus'') is a species of sea turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is endemic to the sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters of the Australian continental shelf. This turtle gets its ...

(''Natator depressus'') and there is occasional nesting by the

hawksbill sea turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is largel ...

(''Eretmochelys imbricata'') and olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea'') the island it has predators like saltwater crocodile. This island is south of the Torres Strait Islands. Crab-island

See also