Beautiful swimmers attack at low tide

Authors

David S. Johnson, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow

Document Type

Article

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Publication Date

2022

Journal

Ecology

Volume

103

Issue

10

First Page

ecy.3787

Abstract

It is low tide in a salt marsh. A blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, digs a shallow-water pit. It appears that the crab has missed the outgoing tide and is waiting for the next one. But it is not the tide the crab is waiting for. A female fiddler crab, Minuca pugnax, picks at the mud near the pit with its claws. It is eating. The blue crab waits. The fiddler crab moves closer to the pit. Suddenly, the water explodes as the blue crab seizes the fiddler crab and pulls it into the pit. Now it is the blue crab's turn to eat.

DOI

doi: 10.1002/ecy.3787

Keywords

ambush predator, blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, fiddler crabs, Sesarma reticulatum

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Johnson, David S., Beautiful swimmers attack at low tide (2022). Ecology, 103(10), ecy.3787.

doi: 10.1002/ecy.3787