Blue Land Crab (Cardisoma guanhumi)

Blue Land Crab (Cardisoma guanhumi (Latreille, 1828))

Scientific name: Cardisoma guanhumi (Latreille, 1828)
Common name: Blue Land Crab
French name: Crabe de terre, Crabe terrestre blanc, Crabe terrestre bleu.
Order: Decapoda
Family: Gecarcinidae
Size: The width of the carapace can reach 13 cm, the weight can reach 500 g.
Habitat : The Blue Land Crab is a land crab that breathes with gills that must always remain moist. It is therefore found in wetlands near water, shores, mangroves, marshes, river banks but never very far from marine coasts. It digs burrows down to underground water.
Food: Omnivore, leaves and fruits collected near the burrow but also insects and carrion.
Reproduction : After mating, the fertilized females carry their eggs under their body. Hatching takes place after two weeks and the larvae must be released into salt water to continue their development which will bring them to the crab state after five moults.
Geographic area: American Atlantic coasts, from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to Brazil. West Indies.

The Blue Land Crab has a smooth and strongly domed carapace.
They are variable in colour, from dark blue to greenish, yellow or whitish grey. Females are generally whitish grey and juveniles brown with orange legs.
There are two thick strips of hair on either side of the mouth.
As with many crab species, males have dimorphic claws. The large claw can exceed the size of the carapace.
Growth is quite slow and requires around 60 moults to reach the final size, which is around three times more than for other crab species.
This crab is eaten in the West Indies where it is captured using a trap placed on the opening of its burrow.
Fiddler Crabs of the Uca genus and other related genera have smaller strips of hair on the sides of the mouth and the large claw is significantly more hypertrophied.
The Swamp Ghost Crab (Ucides cordatus), purple, orange or greyish in colour, has a dark H-shaped mark on the shell.