The top picture is a girly fiddler crab. See her winking? That's how you know.
Her pair of tiny claws are also a clue if she's not in a flirtatious mood.
Here's her beau.
The males are easy to spot with their huge cheliped. It makes feeding on mud less efficient, but is great for signaling to the girls and fending off rivals.
In case you were in need of a bit of fiddler trivia for your next cocktail party, tuck this little fact away in your memory banks ... those cool colors on the fiddler actually change throughout the day.
These crabs are out at Cedar Key eagerly anticipating the upcoming Cedar Key Seafood Festival.
Check out the events calendar to the right.
Have a great Wednesday.
8 comments:
When I was little, I loved to play with the big bucket 'o fiddler crabs my Dad would get to go fishing with. I can never see one without saying to myself "I'm a fiddler crab! Shoot me! It's fiddler crab season!" Heehee.
Crabs a welcome relief from the rat...vary cute!
Thanks for the note about upcoming FL events. I added them to my list.
Keep the "Stupid Things I Have Done" posts coming! They're my favorite :-D
BTW, have you noticed any increase in the number of Green Anoles around your place? It seems that, all of a sudden, we've had a spike in the population around here, and I'm wondering what caused it. I sure prefer them over the Browns.
Hurricane Teen: Just this past week, I spotted the Green Anoles crawling up and down our palm trees. They really do stand out among all the ordinary brown lizards that are so common here.
FC, I had no idea the fiddler crabs changed color!! The things I learn when I come over here.
BTW, regarding your last comment on my site about the fishing weather, which Sam described as flat AND windy... I found out that they had headed over to a lagoon afterward, and it was nice and flat in there. Out by the Skyway bridge, it was certainly choppy enough and Rick's friend was having a time of it, trying to keep the boat steady.
Samamtha was on her cell phone at the time and I didn't think to clarify it.
You're very observant! (Of course!!)
I must say I didn't realize they changed color either. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that considering so many other critters do. Great shots!
Sharon,
The squirrel skull crunching family across the street from my boyhood home also love to fish for sheepshead and they would have buckets of fiddlers there.
We use to have crab races in their garage.
3C,
Wait till you see what I smuggled next ... cute to the tenth power.
Jason,
Glad you liked it.
HTeen,
Here at PFHQ, the exotic browns are still in the minority, so I mostly see greens any way. That's good news that you are seeing more of the natives :)
Laura,
I have a Carolina Skiff which beats me to death in a strong chop, so I picked up on that seeming contradiction, but it makes perfect sense now :)
RCW,
Somewhere I have a student activity that involves this diurnal color changing.
Yeah, it's nice to see more of the native Greens...If only I could see more of the HUMAN natives :)
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