Fiddler crabs
grrlscientist | October 16, 2008tags: fiddler crabs, marine life, photography, Image of the Day
Fiddler crabs, photographed at Bolivar Flats, Texas,
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 August 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
zooillogix | May 10, 2007Researchers have long known that female fiddler crabs have a certain appreciation for the size of a mate's claw, but new findings suggest that in at least one species, the design of the male's pad is also important. John Christy, a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, studied the courtship behavior of a particular species of fiddler crab in the intertidal waterways of Panama. The male fiddler crabs often build sand castles atop the entrance to their burrows. Flagging the young crab vixens down with their oversized "holla" claw, females were much more likely to…