hey all,
i've been fishing again but this time i barely even got a nibble, however, as i stared vacantly at the rivers edge i noticed a crab scuttling along the rocks. i spent the next few hours using pippey to lure out these little critters so i could take a proper look at them. eventually i managed to catch a couple and take some photos.
can anyone identify the species? they were caught in the maribyrnong river in melbourne which is a muddy, esturine system. the crab in the photos had about a 3cm carapace width but there was another much larger (4-6cm carapace width) specimen that i didn't manage to photograph. this large one also had a one over sized claw, which leads me to think that they are fiddler crabs of somekind.
Ah they are pretty cool looking. Sorry I don't know the particular species.
I used to go "crabbing" all the time when I was a kid in maine. A piece of mussle or clam on the end of a string is the ultimate crab catcher. He latches onto the frickin' thing and won't let go no matter what haha. I can't wait until I go back there I miss it.
I miss it.