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Aratus pisonii
A distinctive crab with a mottled carapace that gets darker as it ages. The younger ones also have more vibrant front claws, as you can see in photo 4. I think what you see on the underside in photo 5 shows the gills. Some were in the trees as is typical of this species, but many were on the ground. I don't normally see so many on the ground. The other strange thing was I came across two that were on their backs on the ground. I flipped them over, and they were alive. One possibility is that they were cold, as this was a fairly cold day, preceded by a couple even colder ones that were freezing temperature.
On the lime rock and empty oyster shells near a mangrove-domainted shoreline. Brackish or salt water nearby. A large part of their diet is mangrove leaves (although they are omnivorous), which is why they prefer to live in the mangroves.
Spotted on Jan 23, 2020
Submitted on Feb 2, 2020
4 Comments
Thanks everyone!
Good series Machi with interesting information. The first time I am hearing of mangrove tree crabs. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing your observations; that always makes a posting more interesting.
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!