Bocas Species Database

Habitat: This species favors habitats such as muddy banks of mangrove-bordered estuaries and streams.   Distribution: This crab species has been reported from Western Atlantic to Florida, the West Indies, and from Mexico to Brazil.   Natural History Notes: The activity of fiddler crabs is related to the tides. At low tides, the crabs stay in their burrows, but during the low tides, the crabs open their burrow and reach the surface to feed, clean their burrow and to undergo courtship. It is possible to distinguish the burrows of the ovigerous females, because they build mud chimneys on their burrows.   Characteristics: This species has a carapace of 1.9 cm long. The color pattern consists of a brown to orange carapace and major claw. The major claw is long and the lower finger is slightly bent downward. Fiddler crabs (genus Uca) present easily recognizable sexual dimorphism. The males have one very large claw (major claw) that is used to undergo a characteristic wave to attract females or to defend its territory. The females do not posess such a large claw. Also, the males usually have more conspicuous colors and they are larger than the females.