crab spider or spider crab??
Posted by Jenn Lohl on June 30, 2008
Q: My family and I visited Pensacola Beach, Florida this past week and where walking along an uninhabited section of the beach. I went to pose for a picture next to a dead tree rooted in only a couple inches of water and looked over only to find this (pictured in the two links below) crawling next to my hand. We couldn't figure out what it was and took pictures of it to find out later. Nothing I found on Google matched exactly what it looked like. What type of animal is this, a crab or a spider, and what can you tell me about it? Thanks so much!
Image 1: i232.photobucket.com
Image 2: i232.photobucket.com
Habitat: ocean
State: Florida
Habitat: ocean
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A: Definitely a crab, not a crab spider. These crabs are quite common among mangrove areas and can be found in other beach type settings as well. They crawl among the branches and don't seem like what one might expect of a crab. Thanks for your photos, very helpful. These crabs are totally harmless and kind of "cute" too. Check out this site www.biol.andrews.edu and take a look at one. There are different species of these animals so your animal may be a wee bit different.
Thanks for asking.
John Wiessinger ( June 30, 2008)