Red fiddler crab scurrying around in the mud, in West Bengal

From the archive record

Red fiddler crab moving in and out of the burrow on the salty marsh land of Henry Island, West Bengal. Fiddler crabs hide on the mudflat to protect and defend themselves from aquatic predators. They feed with their smaller claw to pick up the chunk of sediments from the ground to mouth making it a detritivores (obtain nutrients by consuming, decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). A fiddler crab, also known as a calling crab, may be any of approximately 100 species of semi-terrestrial marine crabs which make up the genus Uca. As members of the family Ocypodidae, fiddler crabs are most closely related to the ghost crabs of the genus Ocypode. This entire group is composed of small crabs -- the largest being slightly over two inches across. Fiddler crabs are found along sea beac