Mangrove crabs are crabs that live in and around mangroves. They belong to many different species and families and have been shown to be ecologically significant by burying and consuming leaf litter. Mangrove crabs have a variety of phylogenies because mangrove crab is an umbrella term that encompasses many species of crabs. Two of the most common families are sesarmid and fiddler crabs. They are omnivorous and are predated on by a variety of mammals and fish. They are distributed widely throughout the globe on coasts where mangroves are located. Mangrove crabs have wide variety of ecological and biogeochemical impacts due to the biofilms that live in symbiosis with them as well as their burrowing habits. Like many other crustaceans, they are also a human food source and have been impacted by humans as well as climate change.
Perisesarma is a genus of mangrove crabs in the family Sesarmidae predominantly found in the Indo-Pacific. Some 23 species are described as of late 2006, with two from West Africa: P. kammermani(De Man, 1883) and P. albertiRathbun, 1921. They are typically small, semiterrestrial crabs found on the forest floor at low tide. They eat nearly anything they can, and try to eat anything that does not threaten them — including pencils and other objects dropped on the forest floor. The last species of the genus described is P. samawatiGillikin and Schubart (2004). It can be found in East Africa along with P. guttatum, but its sister species is P. eumolpe from Malaysian mangroves.
The Sesarmidae are a family of crabs, previously included in the Grapsidae by many authors. Several species, namely in Geosesarma, Metopaulias, and Sesarma, are true terrestrial crabs. They do not need to return to the sea even for breeding.
Hexapus is a genus of crabs in the family Hexapodidae. It contains only three extant species found in the Indo-West Pacific. They inhabit the intertidal and subtidal areas of shorelines.
Sesarma is a genus of terrestrial crabs endemic to the Americas.
Ocypode ceratophthalmus, the horned ghost crab or horn-eyed ghost crab, is a species of ghost crab. It lives in the Indo-Pacific region ; from the coast of East Africa to the Philippines and from Japan to the Great Barrier Reef. They also occur in the Pacific Islands to as far east as Polynesia and Clipperton Island. As their common name implies, O. ceratophthalmus possess eyestalks extending beyond the eyes into long points, which are longer in adults, and shorter in juveniles. The crabs have a box-shaped body, 6–8 centimetres (2.4–3.1 O. ceratophthalmus can run at speeds of up to 2.1 metres per second (6.9 ft/s).
Karstarma is a genus of karst-dwelling crabs formerly included in Sesarmoides.
Gelasimus vocans is a species of fiddler crab. It is found across the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea, Zanzibar and Madagascar to Indonesia and the central Pacific Ocean. It lives in burrows up to 50 centimetres (20 in) deep. Several forms of G. vocans have been recognised, with their authors often granting them the taxonomic rank of full species or subspecies.
Leucosiidae is a family of crabs containing three subfamilies and a number of genera incertae sedis:
Zebrida is a small genus of distinctive striped crabs, known as zebra crabs, that live in association with sea urchins in the Indo-Pacific.
Parasesarma leptosoma, also known as the arboreal crab, is an arboreal, leaf-eating mangrove crab, from East and South Africa where it is found on Rhizophora mucronata and Bruguiera gymnorhiza, but not on Avicennia marina. It occupies an ecological niche similar to that of another sesarmid, Aratus pisonii, from the Americas.
Perisesarma guttatum, the red-claw mangrove crab, is a crab species in the genus Parasesarma and the family Sesarmidae. It is distributed in coastal brackish water habitats of the western Indian Ocean.
Neosarmatium smithi, is a swimming crab species in the genus Neosarmatium. Distributed all over marine and brackish waters of Indo-West Pacific regions.
Charybdis hellerii, the Indo-Pacific swimming crab or spiny hands is a species of crab from the swimming crab family, the Portunidae. Its native range covers the Indian and Pacific Oceans but it has been introduced to the western Atlantic and has invaded the Mediterranean. It is a commercially exploited species in south-east Asia.
Armases cinereum, also known as the squareback marsh crab or wharf crab, is a species of crab in the family Sesarmidae. The wharf crab is a small crab that is dark brown to muddy in color, which allows it to blend in with its usual surroundings. It is found on the Atlantic southeastern coast, down into the Gulf of Mexico. It is an omnivore and is prevalent in marshy coastal environments along the Southwestern Atlantic.
Scylla olivacea, commonly known as the orange mud crab, is a commercially important species of mangrove crab in the genus Scylla. It is one of several crabs known as the mud crab and is found in mangrove areas from Southeast Asia to Pakistan, and from Japan to northern Australia. Along with other species in the genus Scylla, it is widely farmed in aquaculture using wild-caught stocks. They can be differentiated from other species of Scylla by having blunted spines on the dorsal distal corner of the palm (propodus) of the claw, and by the rounded frontal lobe spines with shallow separations in between the eyes.
Macrophthalmus crassipes is a species of sentinel crab in the family Macrophthalmidae, found around China, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, and the Caroline Islands. In Australia it is found from north Western Australia through to New South Wales. Common names include the seagrass sentinel crab and the orange spined sentinel crab. On adult males there is a substantial tooth on the lower claw and a much smaller tooth on the upper claw, and noticeable orange spines on the “wrist” (carpus) of the clawed leg and on the palm of the clawed leg. The carapace is covered in small granules, and is up to around 37 mm (1.5 in) across. It is a burrowing crab, and lives in open tidal flats, muddy or with sandy mud, low on tidal creek banks, and adjacent mangroves.
Parasesarma messa, commonly known as the maroon mangrove crab, is a species of burrowing crab found in Queensland, Australia. It lives in mangroves in estuaries and sheltered bays. It was originally described as Sesarma messa, but was placed in the genus Parasesarma in 2017. Perisesarma messa is also a synonym.
Aratus is a neotropical genus of tree-climbing mangrove crabs in the serarmid family. The genus was first described by Henri Milne-Edwards in 1853, by separating A. pisonii into its own monotypic genus. Aratus has a range spanning Baja California and Sonora, south to Peru along the east Pacific, and from Florida to Brazil in the west Atlantic. Though there has long been attempts to distinguish the Atlantic and Pacific populations of Aratus into separate taxa, it was not until 2014 that sufficient genetic and morphological evidence was collected for the Pacific population to be described as a distinct species.
Sesarmops is a genus of crabs in the family Sesarmidae. Its members are distributed through the Indo–West-Pacific oceanic region. They live in freshwater forest streams near the coast, and in mangroves.
