Beach Crabs

Ghost Crab
Ghost Crab
Ocypode quadrata
Fiddler Crab
Fiddler Crab
Uca spp

These small crabs are largely terrestrial. Female Fiddler Crabs lack the huge claw of the male, which is very strong but is used only in dance-like territorial displays. Several species in the area differ mainly by habitat. Fiddlers prefer marshes and stream banks, where huge colonies riddle the peat with tunnels near the waterline. Almost entirely terrestrial, you will find Ghost Crabs skittering across the beaches at night. Placed in the water, they may even drown! Both grow to a body size of approximately 1 inch.

Fiddler Crabs
Fiddler Crabs tend to live in nasty places. Note the odd left-handed male at upper-right.

US Fish & Wildlife Service Species Profile


leech

Macrobdella spp.

Size: to 10"

Habitat: aquatic

Notes: It's not a nice thought, but there are leeches in our freshwaters, and in marine habitats as well. The species shown is one of the largest and most attractive, if you can say such a thing. It feeds exclusively on vertebrate blood - a good reason to wear a wetsuit, although I've never encountered one. Leeches are actually worms, not insects, but ...