Family

Family : Ocypodidae, Ortmann, 1894

     (8 species present in Seychelles)

  Subfamily : Ocypodinae, Dana, 1851

   Genus : Ocypode

     Species : Ocypode ceratophthalmus (Pallas, 1772)

Ocypode ceratophthalmus on Coetivy island
Scientific name :Ocypode ceratophthalmus (Pallas, 1772)
English name :Ghost Crab
Creole name :Crabe grangalop
Family :Ocypodidae
Distribution :
Seychelles :Mahe, Praslin, Coetivy
World :It is the most widespread species of Ocypode and found from the eastern African coast to Hawai and Australia. It does not appear to populate the upper part of the western Inian Ocean (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b).
Ecology :
Habitat :Sandy beaches, near the seafront
Diet :Carnivorous and cannibalistic
Activity : diurnal and nocturnal
Burrowing : Constantly burrowing new burrows after each tide
Description :
Size :Carapace width : 38 mm, length : 37 mm
Morphological remarks :The eyestalks have a long styliform straight process which is missing in juveniles (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b).
Differences in sexes :The first and second walking legs of males have a double brush of hair on the lower face of the propodus. In females the brush is single on the first and barely visible on the second walking leg (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b).
Picture :Ocypode ceratophthalmus on Coetivy island


     Species : Ocypode cordimana Desmarest, 1825

Scientific name :Ocypode cordimana Desmarest, 1825
English name :Ghost Crab
Creole name :Crabe grangalop
Family :Ocypodidae
Distribution :
Seychelles :Mahe, Praslin, Coetivy
World :a widespread Indo-Pacific species ranging from the Red Sea, Somalia, Madagascar, Natal to Japan and Tahiti. (Hartnoll, 1975).
Ecology :
Habitat :Sandy beaches, further from the seafront than Ocypode ceraphthalmus, near the edge of the beach and the vegetation.
Diet :Carnivorous and cannibalistic
Activity : diurnal and nocturnal
Burrowing : Constantly burrowing
Description :
Size :Carapace width : 29 mm, length : 24 mm
Colour :carapace green-grey, claws white. I observed it changes its colour according to the environment. It becomes pale white when exposed to white sand and in full sunlight.
Morphological remarks :It is the only species of Ocypode noticeably lacking the stridulating apparatus in the palm of the major claw (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b).
Differences in sexes :
Picture :Ocypode cordimana


   Genus : Uca

     Species : Uca chlorophthalmus chlorophthalmus H. Milne Edwards, 1837

Scientific name :Uca chlorophthalmus chlorophthalmus H. Milne Edwards, 1837
English name :Fiddler Crab
Creole name :Crabe bondyepinimwa, Crabe semafot
Family :Ocypodidae
Distribution :
Seychelles :Mahe, Praslin
World :Restricted to the African coast from Somalia to South Africa, Mauritius and Madagascar (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b).
Ecology :
Habitat :Mangroves and mudflats (part which is submerged during high tide)
Diet :Detritivorous
Activity : during low tide, stays inside his burrow during high tide
Burrowing : Burrowing
Description :
Size :Carapace width : 16 mm, length : 10 mm
Morphological remarks :A small-sized, broad front species having a moderate, tuberculate ridge on the palm and a typical triangular depression at the external base of the immobile finger.
Differences in sexes :Males have one enormous cheliped (red coloured) and one small one.
Females have 2 small chelipeds. Males are more colored
Pictures :
Male :Fiddler crab, male
Female :Fiddler crab, female


     Species : Uca urvillei H. Milne Edwards, 1852

Scientific name :Uca urvillei H. Milne Edwards, 1852
English name :Fiddler Crab
Creole name :Crabe bondyepinimwa, Crabe semafot
Family :Ocypodidae
Distribution :
Seychelles :Mahe, Praslin
World :From Somalia to Natal, Madagascar, the cosat of Pakistan and western India (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b).
Ecology :
Habitat :Mangroves and mudflats (part which is submerged during high tide)
Diet :Detritivorous
Activity : during low tide, stays inside his burrow during high tide
Burrowing : Burrowing
Description :
Size :Carapace width : 33 mm, length : 19 mm
Morphological remarks :A large-sized, narrow front species. It is the only Uca of this area with a long row of tubercules on the floor of the orbit (in both sexes) and with the dactylus of the major claw having a long distinct groove covering most of its length (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b).
Differences in sexes :Males have one enormous cheliped (fingers yellow-white, upper margin of the claw yellow-orange and the lower margin, near the external base of the immobile finger, ornage-red coloured) and one small one.
Females have 2 small chelipeds. Males are more colored
Pictures :
Male :
Female :


     Species : Uca tetragonon (Herbst, 1790)

Scientific name :Uca tetragonon (Herbst, 1790)
English name :Fiddler Crab
Creole name :Crabe bondyepinimwa, Crabe semafot
Family :Ocypodidae
Distribution :
Seychelles :Mahe, Praslin
World :From the Red Sea to Tanzania, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Indonesia and the central Pacific (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b).
Ecology :
Habitat :Mangroves and mudflats (part which is submerged during high tide)
Diet :Detritivorous
Activity : during low tide, stays inside his burrow during high tide
Burrowing : Burrowing
Description :
Size :Carapace width 27 mm, length : 19 mm
Morphological remarks :A larged-sized, narrow front species, no oblique ridge on the internal face of the palm (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b).
Differences in sexes :Males have one enormous cheliped (whitish with a red-orange patch at the base of the mobile finger) and one small one. Females have 2 small chelipeds. Males are more coloured (blue-white-red carapace)
Picture :


   Genus : Macrophthalmus

     Species : Macrophthalmus parvimanus (Guérin, 1834)

Scientific name :Macrophthalmus parvimanus (Guérin, 1834)
English name :
Creole name :
Family :Ocypodidae
Islands :Mahe, Praslin
Ecology :
Habitat :Mangroves
Diet :
Activity :
Burrowing :
Description :
Size :
Differences in sexes :

Rule

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