Re: NANFA-- MA Collecting Trip

Bruce Stallsmith (fundulus_at_hotmail.com)
Sun, 02 Jul 2000 12:53:09 EDT

These estuarine crabs can live through all sorts of environmental
variations. The limiting factor is that they couldn't successfully reproduce
in total freshwater. Many of the hermit crabs, for instance, produce eggs
that are carried by the female and hatch into tiny larvae attached to her
underside. These larvae have to be released on an ebbing spring tide (high
end of the tidal cycle) and carried out to sea from estuarine rivers, ponds
and marshes. The larvae need the open ocean to feed enough so that they can
grow quickly and not be as easily eaten themselves before they make their
way back to estuarine areas after several months.

These crabs are tough, no doubt about that!

--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, way far from tidal marshes...

>I have a fiddler crab that i keep in total freshwater. It's really hard
>well
>water that always leaves a white crust all over everything that is in
>contact
>with often. I also read on the NFC email list archives that a guy on that
>list kept blue crabs in total freshwater. It would be interesting to find
>out
>whether or not spider crabs could tolerate it.

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