LAND CRABS: THE ILLUSTRATED ‘WHAT, WHERE, HOW, & WHY’

November 26, 2013 by Rolling Harbour

LAND CRABS: THE ILLUSTRATED ‘WHAT, WHERE, HOW, & WHY’

The Loxahatchee River District organisation produces excellent informative posters on wildlife and environmental themes. With their approval, I have a dedicated page for these: CLICK LOXAHATCHEE. You will find posters about Bonefish, Tarpon, Lionfish, Nassau Grouper, Spiny Lobster, Coral Reefs, Elkhorn Coral, and Seagrasses. I’d be surprised if each one didn’t contain at least one interesting factual nugget that you didn’t know before. The range of subjects is gradually being expanded and one of the latest concerns the Land Crab. Click the poster twice to enlarge it and make it legible.

My factoid nugget from this poster is that juvenile bonefish predate on larval crabs. I suppose it’s obvious, but I hadn’t thought about it. From the fisherman’s angle a very good reason to protect, and ensure the proliferation of, adult land crabs!

For photos of these crabs and a short video demo of how they use their claws, here are links to two previous posts about them

LAND CRABS ON ABACO HOW TO STALK AND WRESTLE THEM

ABACO LAND CRAB vs RICKY JOHNSON ROUND 2 (VIDEO)

A BAHAMAS CRAB FEAST ON ABACO & BEYOND

July 15, 2013 by Rolling Harbour

A BAHAMAS CRAB FEAST ON ABACO & BEYOND

The photos below show a sample of the types of crab that may be found in and around the island of Abaco, both in the sea and on land. The wonderful underwater images were taken in adjacent waters by Melina Riger of Grand Bahama Scuba. The rest were taken by landlubbers at Rolling Harbour on the Delphi beach and rather closer to the building than one might expect. The last crab (and the header image) was a crab hooshed out of the coppice by Ricky Johnson to demonstrate its fighting prowess. I have put links to 2 posts featuring this fine specimen (including a video) at the end.

ARROW CRAB

HERMIT CRAB

HORSESHOE CRAB (LIMULUS)

COMMON GHOST CRAB (Ocypode quadrata), DELPHI BEACH

PET CRABS PROTECTING MY ROD OUTSIDE OUR ROOM (note second crab behind it) AND ADVERTISING HARDY PRODUCTS. Rick Guest has pointed out that the crab is not protecting my rod at all. As if! “The crab in the foreground is the male guarding “his” female, distinguished by the small, abdominal triangle. The wide margins of the female’s abdomen are evident.” So that’s how to tell the sex of a land crab.

BLUE LAND CRAB (Cardisoma guanhumi) WITH ATTITUDE

LAND CRABS ON ABACO: HOW TO STALK & WRESTLE THEM

LAND CRAB vs RICKY JOHNSON: ROUND 2 (VIDEO)

PS thanks to Nick Kenworthy for species comments + knowing the Latin names; also Clare for the Limulus

ABACO LAND CRAB vs RICKY JOHNSON: ROUND 2 (VIDEO)

August 15, 2012 by Rolling Harbour

A few weeks back, I wrote a post called ‘LAND CRABS: HOW TO STALK & WRESTLE THEM‘. It features stills of famed Abaco nature guide Ricky Johnson in a face-off with a land crab at Bahama Palm Shores. I noted that the large, heavy claw of these crabs is in fact the less worrying one, being used to intimidate and to grip. It’s the small claw that you need to watch out for…

I have now sorted out an annoying camera card v Mac format incompatibility problem (well, $30 of software has dealt with it. Dear Apple, please make friends with the Panasonic Lumix asap) and to my great surprise I find that I took a video of Ricky and a land crab that perfectly demonstrates the claw point. He did mess with the large claw, but he wisely left the small one well alone…

The footage starts with Ricky’s trademark laugh to get you into the right spirit (it’s impossible to go on one of his Eco-Tours and not have fun while learning). The volume of the commentary drops off a bit halfway through. I haven’t found the gizmo for changing the audio during the video: it’s all or nothing, I’m afraid

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/47535538]

If you want to find out more about Land Crabs on Abaco – including Hermit Crabs – you won’t do much better than to check out the comprehensive account by ‘Bob H’ on Yahoo! Answers ABACO LAND CRAB FACTS

Ricky the guide? Here he is in full-on enthusiastic guide mode, ‘pishing’ for male Bahama Woodstar hummingbirds in low open coppice near Crossing Rocks. He has just had a responding call and is keeping us quiet while he locates the bird

ADDENDUM Tragically in the second half of 2012 Ricky developed a horrible disease that spread rapidly and unstoppably. Within 6 months he was dead, not yet 50. His sad passing, and the cruel manner of it, made me wonder if I should take down some of the many posts in which he features. But he would not have wanted that, so I have left them unaltered.

MUSICAL DIGRESSION

Those who braved the video may have wondered about the guitar chord at the beginning and end. A few – of a certain age – may have thought it familiar. One or two may have recognised it as the opening chord of A Hard Day’s Night (Beatles 1964). It is one of the most controversial and interesting chords in modern music, with more theories about its exact construction than you can shake a Rickenbacker 12-string at (as played by George Harrison). There have been more than a dozen claimed ‘correct’ chord identities. According to Harrison, it is in fact simply an ‘F add 9’ chord augmented by Macca’s crucial 5th fret, A string ‘D’ on his Hofner bass. Trouble is, there are half a dozen ways to play ‘F add 9’ at various points on the neck, and most of them don’t sound quite right… But that’s enough about that. Anyone who wants to follow this musical meander further – much further – should click HERE===>>> THAT CHORD

LAND CRABS ON ABACO – HOW TO STALK AND WRESTLE THEM…

June 29, 2012 by Rolling Harbour

LAND CRABS ON ABACO – HOW TO STALK AND WRESTLE THEM…

Only kidding. But the following sequence taken at Bahama Palm Shores, Abaco during a recent Eco-tour with Ricky Johnson certainly looks as if they are squaring up for a fight… LAND CRABS (also known as Terrestrial Crabs) are found throughout the world. The large claw looks like the one to avoid, but is in fact the crab’s defensive / aggressive warning to back off. It’s the smaller claw you have to watch out for…

Ricky carefully stalks his opponent, waiting for the right moment to move in

Ricky, now in the crouched fighting position, challenges his opponent by pointing at the ground

The crab accepts the challenge and prepares to engage

First the massive left claw is raised to warn Ricky to back off…

Meanwhile the right claw is poised, ready to inflict the maximum damage when Ricky makes his move

The fearsome face persuades Ricky to show us some parrots instead… SCORE: CRAB 1, RICKY 0

CATCHING LAND CRABS

I checked this out, never having tried it. I found an article by Jack Hardy at oii/net that sets out some methods. See also Brigitte Carey’s comment on the ‘step-on-them-from-behind-wearing-sensible-shoes’ way:

“How do you catch them? Let me count the ways… Expert catchers put their left palm in front of the crab to attract its attention then scoop it up from the rear and have it in a croacker bag in an instant. Others use a stick or machete to pin the crab down then take a hold on the rear of the shell where the biters cannot reach. Sometimes the back two legs are gripped. You can use your foot to hold them in place so long as you have stout footwear. One Marsh Harbour man told me he uses two-foot long wash-house tongs to clasp the contentious crustaceans”