Fiddler Crab

ocean creatures · extreme athletes · crabs

Giant claw showoff. Male fiddler crabs have one claw that grows huge, while their other claw stays tiny. They wave the big one around to attract females and scare away other males, just like someone playing a fiddle.

Males and females look different. This extreme difference between male and female crabs is called sexual dimorphism. The females have two normal-sized claws, so only the males get the fancy fiddle look.

Live on the shoreline. Fiddler crabs are semiterrestrial, meaning they spend time both in water and on land. You might find them skittering around mudflats and sandy beaches near the ocean.

There are lots of species. There are about a hundred different species of fiddler crabs living in oceans around the world. Each species has its own size, color, and style of waving that big claw.

Crustacean family members. Fiddler crabs belong to the family Ocypodidae, which makes them distant cousins to other ocean crustaceans like lobsters and shrimp.