Soldier Crabs

Description:

Unlike most crabs they walk forwards. They have lungs, not gills. Soldier crabs like to travel around in large armies. Soldier crabs feed on detritus which is decaying leaf matter. They dig holes in the mud flats to protect themselves from enemies and the sun. They carry bubbles of air into the burrow. The Soldier crabs spiral down into the sand. They have a hairy fringe on the back of their shell to suck up moisture. They tuck themselves into a ball for protection.

Habitat:

Soldier Crabs live predominantly on the sandy intertidal shore areas of eastern Australia. These areas have little wave action, but are constantly changing due to tidal activity and other erosion factors. Soldier crabs are typically found near the mangrove communities which provide adequate shelter and some protection for them. The wet and muddy nature of the sands allows for these crabs to make a quick retreat into a newly formed burrow when threatened in any way. Since the areas that these crabs are found in are low energy shorelines, they can become very abundant. Since these crabs can not burrow down into the ground where sea grass in present they tend to have a mutually exclusive relationship with seagrass.

Notes:

These crabs are quite fascinating to watch ! they werent exactly in the mud flats, it isn't a mangrove area... but the wet soft sand when the tide is out.