Marine Life Unit Study - Wildlife Pictures
During our stay on the island, we found some wildlife. They include:
- Ghost crabs (juveniles)
- A female mole crab
- A sandpiper
- Fiddler crabs
- Marsh periwinkles
- Clams
1. We
actually found several ghost crabs, which is supposed to be a difficult
thing to do. Ghost crabs are in state of flux with their evolution.
While they have evolved to be land crabs at this point, they still must
wet their gills a few times a day. So, at least once a day, the shy
ghost crab leaves its small burrow and rushes down to the sea to
quickly wet its gills, before rushing back home. Based on the size of
the specimens, the time of the year and the fact that we spotted them
during the day, I think we saw juveniles. The juveniles have to live
closer to the high tide line, because they must wet their gills more
often. We saw at least 5 ghost crabs! They were smaller than an
American quarter and they are brilliantly camoflauged. They run so
amazingly fast that we spotted the quick movement and then recognized
an almost translucent crab that looked remarkably like sand. Ghost
crabs are related to fiddler crabs, although there is not such a large
discrepancy in the size of their pincers. Here is a picture we took of
a ghost crab.
2. One day, while we were digging at low tide, I
came across an interesting purplish shell about an inch down in the
sand. When I picked up the approximately 2 inch long oblong shell, I
saw tiny crab feet frantically moving underneath it! It was a female
mole crab, which I think are sometimes called "sand bugs". People
apparently use them as fishing bait. We all examined the mole crab
before putting it back. Male mole crabs are much smaller and they die
shortly after mating. It was about a month or so past mating season.
I'm not sure how long the females live for past mating. I didn't have my camera with me when we caught the mole crab.
3. We saw
some very bold birds, as people tend to see at the beach. Some of them
looked different to the regular gulls that one expects. I was only
ambitious enough to get a picture of one bird on the beach one day. I
was intrigued with this attractive-looking bird that kept running into
the waves, wading around and then running back up the beach. When I
looked through my Audobon book at home, I determined that it was a
sandpiper. This sandpiper is from the Great Lakes area and migrates to
our area in the winter.
4. One day as we stood on an observation
dock, hoping to see dolphins, we heard the strangest noise. It was a
gentle velvety squishing noise that, while not very loud, was present
over the entire reed area. We looked down into the tidal marsh and saw
thousands of fiddler crabs moving throughout the reeds. Fiddler crabs
are not very big (less than 2 inches long) but they have a really
tough attitude. The female looks balanced and unassuming but the male
menacingly waves his oversized pincer around at anything that seems to
be a threat. We found the fiddler crabs to be very comical and
endearing. They build burrows in the muddy marsh that often look like
high-rises. They busily enter and exit their burrows and move around en
masse.
5. While admiring the fiddler crabs, we saw some marsh periwinkles (snails) on the reeds with them. If you look closely at this picture, you can see some fiddler crabs and also some whitish marsh periwinkles (on the reeds).
6. We actually did see a few clams in the tidal marsh, while looking at the fiddler crabs.
