Category: Cardisoma guanhumi

Sitting at my desk at (Pelican Island) Audubon House I was happy to look out the window and see this Blue Land Crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) exploring the breezeway. Being close to the Indian River Lagoon and surrounded by wetlands it came as no surprise seeing this little guy show up. What was surprising, and a little disconcerting to actually see him doing it, was the Crab decided it needed a more elevated view of its surroundings and proceeded to climb the wading bird statue residing in the breezeway waiting to be put out in the landscaping as a decoration.




The Crab very deftly climbed the statue and once he reached the top was quite happy to relax up there for some time.

Land Crabs are known climbers so this statue did not present much of a challenge judging from the stories I heard of Crabs scaling more difficult…

A Blue Land Crab (Cardisoma guanhumi), also known as the Great Atlantic Land Crab, prowls around its burrow in this short movie slightly sped up to make it a bit more interesting for us lazy humans. This unusual albino Land Crab lives on the edge of a mangrove wetland bordering a front yard on the barrier island along the Indian River Lagoon in Indian River County, Florida. Watch toward the end, the sudden shift in the camera angle is actually caused by the Land Crab moving the camera, which the Crab takes great interest in whenever the camera is out by the Crab’s burrow. This footage is an excerpt from my shambling attempt to document the life history of the Land Crab and its beach-dwelling cousin, the Ghost Crab. With a little more motivation on my part, this project will get done — one day soon!