Florida: Colorful Giant Land Crabs
September 14, 2014 11 Comments
Summer and early Fall are the best time to see colorful giant land crabs in Florida. They live along the Atlantic coast from Central to Southern Florida, and are also found along the Gulf coast. We usually see them around the time of the full moon in August and September in the Sebastian/Vero Beach area. Giant blue land crabs (Cardisoma guanhumi) like to live in wet sandy burrows, and need to be within 5 miles of the ocean to spawn. Only one in a million eggs survives to adulthood. The distinctive brown “fuzz” around the mouth parts of land crabs is actually a net-like pattern of hairs. It works in conjunction with the internal gills to help them “breathe” while on land. Both male and female adult land crabs have one claw bigger than the other. The crabs can grow up to 6 inches across, and come in a variety of colors including blue, purple, red, orange, brown, and white. More info about the life history of these fascinating crabs is at: http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/crustaceans/blue-crabs/life-cycle/
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Iridescent!
They were really beautiful!
These shots are wonderful! 🙂
Thanks! We really like them!
Cool pictures!! 🙂
Thank you! They were shy at first, so we had to stay real still and wait for them to come back out. What fun!
Far too cute!!!!!
Yes, they are total cuties! 🙂
Growing up near the Chesapeake Bay I have a soft spot for crabs of any kind. Great pics!
We love these little crabs – they are the cutest. We have the same soft spot too.