Fiddler Crabs

A fiddler crab, sometimes known as a calling crab, may be any of approximately 97 species of semi-terrestrial marine crabs within the genus Uca. Belonging to the family Ocypodidae, fiddler crabs are most closely related to the ghost crabs of the genus Ocypode.
Found in mangroves and on sandy or muddy beaches of West Africa, the Western Atlantic, Eastern Pacific and Indo-Pacific, fiddler crabs are easily recognized by their distinctively asymmetric claws. It is the males which boast an oversized claw or cheliped; it plays a role in courtship and signalling among conspecifics. The movement of the smaller claw during feeding, from the ground to the mouth, inspired the crabs’ common name; to many, it appears as if the animal is playing a fiddle (the larger claw).

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