Crabby Creativity?

Since 1999 Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory Professor Emeritus Dr. George O’Meara has presented Life in the Pits & Treetops as part of the Volunteer Nature Stewardship Class. We have learned that the holes in moist areas at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) are the homes of blue land crabs (Cardisoma guanhumi), specialized crabhole mosquitoes (Deinocerites cancer), and a hermaphroditic fish sometimes called the crabhole fish (Kryptolebias marmoratus).

At the ORCA, you will find blue land crab burrows on the trail in the mesic hammock area and on the banks of the mosquito control dikes that serve as trails in the coastal wetlands. Also known as great Atlantic land crabs, they begin to become more active in June when their spawning season begins. Activity will increase through the summer peaking in September or October. Mainland crabs spawn in the Indian River Lagoon, and crabs living on Orchid Island spawn in the Atlantic Ocean.

Juvenile crabs are orangish in color, and adult crabs are generally bluish. The size of the burrow reflects the size of the crab inside. Crabs enter their burrows sideways.

Blue land crabs are quite fastidious, routinely “cleaning” their burrows. Each morning this large burrow obviously has been “cleaned” …