Miyazaki Forest Crab
In the seaside forests of Miyazaki prefecture I almost always stumbled upon legions of almost black to bright red crabs quickly scuttling away as soon as I got near. Entering a forest path the ground would be covered by thousands of crabs, frozen in anticipation, one more step from me and in an instant the crabs would disappear into the undergrowth with a rustling sound amplified by thousand of little legs. Every now and then an older or injured crab is too slow to get away from me so I get a good chance to take a few photos. I don’t know the proper species name for this type of crab, maybe a zoologist reading this blog could help me identify it?
Crabs in a forest? **Bright red** crabs in a forest?! That is too cool. Would be appropriate colors for a holiday card!
And suddenly I remember the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” for some reason. (Maybe because the crabs remind me of growing up on the water, crabbing and then cooking fresh at the dock. So maybe it’s all about eating seafood…)
Tidepooling in Northern California results in pink-and-purple polkadot crabs! Who knew these guys could be so diverse.
They are cool, especially when you turn the corner in a forest and the whole path comes alive with hundreds of them! (^-^)
Could it be this? Geothelphusa dehaani?
I’ve heard of people keeping Japanese freshwater crabs as pets in an aquarium, but I’ve never actually seen one. They are cute and pretty!
I guess it could be, but the crabs I saw were much bigger, the adult ones were the size of a human fist and I didn’t see anyone in or around water. Even the kids were there size of the adult one in this video… (^-^;) A lot of people in Japan keep these fresh water crabs as pets and I have fun trying to catch them here and there in rivers and ditches around Japan!
They are so beautiful! You are so lucky to find them!
Yes they are! Like some sort of strange alien forest spirits…!
Possibly Gecarcoidea lalandii (same genus as the famous Christmas Island land crabs). It’s matches your color description and size. Southern Japan would probably be the northern limit of its distribution.
Could be, but I stumble on the word “nocturnal”, these were mostly active during the daytime as I remember them. If they had been nocturnal I would have heard them even if I did not see them… (^-^)
Great shots of the crab and what lovely vibrant red colour they are.
The video was a great addition, too.
Thank you Todor! Imagine hundreds of them on the path in front of you…! Yes, we’ll have to thank Hangaku Gozen for that video!
Were they all tending to swarm in the same direction? Because normally nocturnal land crabs do this mass migration thing during breeding season, even during the day. The Christmas Island species is famous for it.
Otherwise they normally come out at night or hang close to their burrows (as did the coconut crabs I saw on Kiribati).
No, these guys were just hanging out quietly until I showed up, they all freeze, then scatter for cover in any direction possible! Almost in a comical manner. Kiribati! I would love to check out those coconut crabs… imagine having one of those as a pet!
Looks like this could be it:
Geothelphusa miyazakii
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/134086/0
Hm…. very good naming but native to Taiwan… so probably not it… the search continues!