Halloween Crab

This is a halloween crab, Gecarcinus quadratus, also known as the moon crab, mouthless crab or harlequin land crab, it is a colourful land crab from the family Gecarcinidae. It is found in mangrove, sand dunes and rainforest along the Pacific coast from Mexico south to Peru. The taxonomy in relations to the Atlantic Gecarcinus lateralis is disputed, with many considering it and G. quadratus to be conspecific.

Gecarcinidae is a family of true crabs that are adapted for terrestrial existence, commonly known as land crabs. Similar to all other crabs, land crabs possess a series of gills. In addition, the part of the carapace covering the gills is inflated and equipped with blood vessels. These organs extract oxygen from the air, analogous to the vertebrate lungs. Adult land crabs are terrestrial, but visit the sea periodically, where they breed and their larvae develop. Land crabs are tropical omnivores who sometimes cause considerable damage to crops. Most land crabs have one of their claws larger than the other.

This nocturnal crab digs burrows – sometimes as long as 1.5 m (5 ft) – in the coastal rainforests of Central America, and is common in parts of Costa Rica. There it lives in the forest at least some of its adult life, but needs to return to the ocean to breed. They have gills that need to be moist all the time. If not, they die. The halloween crab is very territorial and will defend itself if threatened. It is largely herbivorous, and consumes leaf litter and seedlings. They will, however, also take animal matter if available. They have a life span of 10-15 years.

In the pet-trade it is sometimes confused with the African Cardisoma armatum (sometimes also referred to as the Moon crab) or the primarily Caribbean Gecarcinus ruricola. Unlike these, G. quadratus combines a pair of largely purple claws, reddish-orange legs, and an almost entirely blackish (actually dark brownish if seen well) carapace with a pair of yellow, orange or maroon spots behind the eyes, and an additional pair of whitish spots on the central-lower carapace. Additionally, the name Halloween crab sometimes leads to confusion with the entirely different halloween hermit crab. The carapace of G. quadratus may reach a length of 5 cm (2 in).

This image was captured in Jupiter, Florida

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