Padre Island crab...what kind? Pictures

[Galapoheros]

Did a little road hunting in the Padre Island area in Texas with my nephew. Found some crabs on the road. What kind of crab is this? It was blue/purple with some orange on the claws. We found others like it but there wasn't as much purple. Allot more orange. Obviously spends more time on land than in water. Not real aggressive. We were handling them and letting them crawl over everything after a while.

 

[Empi]

That is an awsome crab. I cant tell you what kind it is though sorry. how big are they?

 

[Galapoheros]

The crab had a body width of about 2 to 3 inches and a leg span of about 5 to 6 inches. Never got pinched. It would use it's pincers to climb up things. I could let it hang by my finger with it's pincer and it would work it's way up my arm. Good climbing ability but not much to climb on at Padre Island. These crabs reminded me of that show about the crabs on Christmas Island(?). You see that show? All those red crabs. The behavior of these seemed real similar. Same morphology and way of moving. You know, not real jerky like sand crabs. Very deliberate in their movements. Even found some with eggs.

 

[Bayushi]

it looks to be some type of fiddler crab, seeing how one of it's claws is much larger than the other.... although i am probably wrong, that's what i would venture a guess at it being.

 

[ScorpDemon]

ive seen those before.. cant remember what the locals called them.. it was probably just a local nickname though.. but they are cool.. nice find

 

[Randolph XX()]

it looks to be some type of fiddler crab, seeing how one of it's claws is much larger than the other.... although i am probably wrong, that's what i would venture a guess at it being.

no Bay, they are not fiddler's crab, they are way bigger than that..
anyway the blue is nice

 

[Bayushi]

So i was wrong.... oh well.... only thing i really know about crabs is they make good salads.

 

[Empi]

The crab had a body width of about 2 to 3 inches and a leg span of about 5 to 6 inches. Never got pinched. It would use it's pincers to climb up things. I could let it hang by my finger with it's pincer and it would work it's way up my arm. Good climbing ability but not much to climb on at Padre Island. These crabs reminded me of that show about the crabs on Christmas Island(?). You see that show? All those red crabs. The behavior of these seemed real similar. Same morphology and way of moving. You know, not real jerky like sand crabs. Very deliberate in their movements. Even found some with eggs.

Yeah I saw that show. That was pretty amazing stuff. It was pretty crazy when the babys hatched and covered everything on the beach.

 

[Wade]

It might be an immature Cardisoma guanhumi , the giant blue land crab. I've kept adults, which are like 6" accross and powder blue. I've never seen immatures, but I've read they can be purplish or orange. They're in Florida, Texas and into Central and South America.

Wade

 

[Galapoheros]

You got it Wade! Yea, I did a Google Images search for Cardisoma guanhumi and I'm 95% sure that's what it was. Thanks. Not knowing what kind it was, was bothering me. Found a picture of another one on the web. Still not 100% sure though.

http://marinefisheries.org/images/crabs/landcrab.jpg