“Ghost Crab”
Day 45 of 366 Day Project
“Magic is everywhere, explore & be amazed everyday!”
I was out on a weekend bike ride and almost rode over this little fella…a “White Crab” also known as a Ghost Crab or Mole Crab. I turned back and managed to get up nice and close with my iPhone without getting nipped by his claw. He was so fast and was waiting for an opportunity to run and hide. He had a pale body similar to the colour of sand. This makes him nearly invisible when he crawls out over sand and footpaths. It is because of this apparent invisibility that this crab has it’s unique name ‘ghost’. The name is also suggestive of the fact that the activities of this creature are mainly restricted to night…so I was lucky to stumble across him.
He has five pairs of legs. The first pair is called Chelipeds and is shaped as claws. His legs, when jointly used, can make him move in any direction – forward, backward or sideways. In male crabs of this specie, one claw is slightly larger than the other, therefore I think this little guy is a male.
I bet you didn’t know that he can:
- move on sand at about 10 miles per hour,
- hold oxygen in his air sac for about six weeks, and
- shrink back his eyes into grooves located on the frontal area of its shell.
He has large black eyes that are supported on stalks. His eyes help him see in any direction. There are horns attached to the end of the eyes too. It is by these horns that the gender of a crab is recognized, males have the horns.
Pretty amazing hey!
Recent Comments