Invertebrates
Blue Land Crab
Cardisoma guanhumi · also called blue land crabs
Emerging from a deep burrow dug far from the shoreline, a blue land crab forages under cover of darkness, living most of its adult life on land despite needing to return to the sea each year to release its eggs.
Overview
The blue land crab, Cardisoma guanhumi, is native to coastal areas across the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and parts of the southeastern United States and South America. Its deep burrowing lifestyle, necessary migration back to the sea for breeding, and role as an ecosystem engineer make it one of the more ecologically important crabs found along its native coastlines.
A life split between land and sea
Though it spends nearly all its adult life burrowed into coastal soil far from the waves, the blue land crab cannot escape the sea entirely, since its reproductive cycle still depends on a return migration to release eggs into the ocean.
Status
Least Concern, though pressured by harvesting and coastal development in parts of its range, with populations in some areas showing a decreasing trend.
Blue Land Crab: common questions
Why does the blue land crab need to return to the ocean?
Despite living mainly on land as an adult, females must migrate to the ocean to release their eggs, since the larval stage of the blue land crab's life cycle develops in seawater before eventually returning to land.
How deep do blue land crab burrows go?
Its burrows can extend well below the water table, often reaching considerable depth, and are frequently located far from the shoreline despite the species' dependence on the sea for reproduction.
What does the blue land crab eat?
It is an omnivore, eating leaves, fruit, carrion, and other organic material found within its coastal habitat.
Why is the blue land crab important to its ecosystem?
Its extensive burrowing activity helps aerate soil and recycle nutrients within coastal habitats, making it an important ecosystem engineer in the areas where it lives.