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My Claw is Bigger! Got It?
Fiddler Crabs. These little guys are a riot. Next time I'll try to get a video. They stay just inside their little hole, raising their oversized claw and waving it. Or they stand outside their hole, stand on their tiptoes, and wave that claw. This impresses the ladies and intimidates the other males. The bigger the claw, the more elaborate he can wave it, the more impressed the ladies will be. They eat the dirt as they burrow, filter out any nutrients, and then form tiny little balls with the dirt, and pile them up outside their hole. By the thousands they cover some terraine with their homes. By the hundreds we watched them waving their claws, watching one female scurrying from one burrow to another. My wife said, "well, ain't she a little tramp" 
Bunch of tough guys. "Don't even think of challenging my claw!!"
See the little guy center of photo? Just above him, a smaller female, no big claw like the male. Her legs dangling in a hole she just visited. See all the little dirt balls? Industrious little guys!
The gang:
Pick me! Pick me!
There's a gif at this link showing one waving his claw. I'll try a video if we get back there this week. It's just comical watching hundreds of tiny crabs all waving their claws in the air. Feel sorry for the smallest ones. They'll never get the girl
Bunch of tough guys. "Don't even think of challenging my claw!!"
See the little guy center of photo? Just above him, a smaller female, no big claw like the male. Her legs dangling in a hole she just visited. See all the little dirt balls? Industrious little guys!
The gang:
Pick me! Pick me!
There's a gif at this link showing one waving his claw. I'll try a video if we get back there this week. It's just comical watching hundreds of tiny crabs all waving their claws in the air. Feel sorry for the smallest ones. They'll never get the girl
hmy:
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