Mud Crab (juvenile)

Description:

A smallish crab with a greenish coloured shell and red claws. Scylla serrata (often called mud crab or mangrove crab, as well as black crab) is found in estuaries and mangroves in tidal rivers.

Habitat:

Muddy coastal mangrove flats on the edge of a tidal river just behind the beach. Water stained brown from Melaleuca.

Notes:

Many people consider mud crabs to be among the tastiest of the crab species for eating. A study on tidal flats in Deception Bay in Queensland found juvenile crabs (20–99 mm or 0.8–3.9 in carapace width) were resident in the mangrove zone, remaining there during low tide, while subadults (100–149 mm or 3.9–5.9 in) migrated into the intertidal zone to feed at high tide and retreated to subtidal waters at low tide.[3] Adults (150 mm or 5.9 in and larger) were caught mainly below the low tide mark, with small numbers captured in the intertidal zone at high tide.