Gecarcinus ruricola

Halloween Crab ( Gecarcinus ruricola )

The Halloween Crab ( Gecarcinus ruricola ) belongs to the land crabs, which mainly reside in the vegetation near beaches. Proximity to the sea is vital for reproduction. The Halloween crab is native to the Caribbean, but is often kept in aquaterraria due to its bright color.

Features

The Halloween crabs owe their name to the strange coloring. Your carapace is dark brown to black in color at the top, but provided near the eyes with two bright orange eye spots. These spots could be used in the nature of deterrence. In addition, an elongate orange spot between the eyes. The roundish - oval, convex shape of their carapace, which is characteristic of the Gecariniden, is with its upper-side furrows into a Pumpkin. All these features together make for one of the unexpected hits on the crab, the image of a small Halloween pumpkin.

The legs and the lower to medium body portion of the Halloween crab are colored orange to red. At the scissors or the tips of the scissors coloring turns into white.

Dissemination

Gecarcinus ruricola (Linnaeus, 1758) is used primarily in the southern Caribbean Sea from the Lesser Antilles to Nicaragua, but not in the Gulf of Mexico off. Individual populations are further north in Florida, living in the northern Cuba and the Bahamas.

It occurs almost exclusively in forested habitats. In contrast to most other land crabs he does not dig deep caves, but looking for daytime protection in columns, caves and other suitable structures to retreat to dig with less need.

In their area of ​​distribution this land crab is quite common and is also eaten by the inhabitants of the coastal areas like.

Gecarcinus ruricola but avoid exposed areas such as human settlements or used for agriculture areas. The growing population in the Caribbean has led to a reduction in suitable for this land crab habitats, so their populations are declining.