Various Mud Crab Adaptations to Survive in Nature

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You might be curious about the mud crab adaptations as this creature itself is very unique in nature thus there are still not many people who knows about them. Especially for their adaptations since they live in estuaries area where there is brackish water as their habitat. Sometimes, you will even need hard time to find this shellfish as you need to dig around the mud to find one. As the mud crab it is very delicious food fish, and then this shellfish is often farmed to ensure stabile supply for consumption. Because this creature can adapt very well with the condition inside the farm, thus they are able to grow very fast.

What is Mud Crab Adaptations to Survive?

There are various mud crab adaptations that are done by this creature in order for them to survive in their natural habitat. The first thing is their behavioral adaptations where they will hide themselves inside the mud by digging the mud using their claws. They will create some type of hole where they can hide their whole body inside the mud. The mud which is very dark and muddy will give them a lot of protection that they need from their predators. Furthermore their color also works as camouflage so they can easily hide inside the mud without being easily detected by their natural predators. That is the reason why; sometimes, it is quite hard for you to find the mud crab even when you already go to the mangrove region where they usually live.

Another behavioral mud crab adaptations that they do is to look their food even in intertidal zone where they can find their food there during the time of high tide. However, this is only temporarily as they will go back into the sub tidal zone during the time of low tide to the place where they actually living. Of course, there are various mud crab species available thus the place where they prefer to live is also different from one another. As they can adapt very well with the change in the water and its condition, then they can survive in most condition available. This is why a lot of people are interested in doing the mud crab farming to make use their behavioral adaptation for their advantage. Sometimes, this shellfish is also growing inside aquarium at home since this creature is also quite entertaining for some people.

When it comes to physical mud crab adaptations, the first thing that you notice is their skeleton. This creature is actually different from other creature where their skeleton lies inside their body. However, for the mud crab, their skeleton actually put outside their body as their shell which will then be called as carapaces. Even though this skeleton is an exoskeleton, however it is actually very similar to our own skeleton which is rigid in structure. Their shell is also very hard thus it can protect the mud crab especially for their internal organ which lies inside the shell. That way, then can protect themselves better from their natural predator by having that very hard shell as their armor.

Next physical adaptation that you will notice is on their claws. As you know the crab actually owned eight legs naturally. And two of those legs are adapted so it will become the claws which have bigger and stronger shape compared to their other legs. Furthermore, these claws are actually very important mud crab adaptations since they have various usages for the crab themselves. First is of course to feed themselves where they will use their claw to grab their prey and catching it. Next is to defend themselves from predators so they can fight their predator using the bigger and stronger claws that they have. And sometimes, there are a few species of crab which also uses their claw during the mating process. However the usage is actually different for each species. For example, sometimes the claw will be displayed so they can attract the female during the mating process. And the claw can also be used to fight other male crab so they can win the female attention which will then mate with them.

The mud crab is actually very unique type of crab which is very different from their fully marine crab which will spend most of the live time inside water. Since the crab is naturally a marine creature, then they will actually using gill to breath. However, this would be a problem for the mud crab which sometimes goes out on the surface of the land without any water. That is why; some species have unique mud crab adaptations which can help them cope with this problem. For example, there are some crabs that have a special designed plate which can be closed tightly so they can keep some of the water inside the body. They will then use that water which stored inside their body so they can breathe through it. But some species prefers to just go into puddles of water to breathe and some prefers to store the water inside their blood or bladder.

Other unique adaptation that the mud crab do is on their senses which actually be done using the antennae as well as antennules which comes in sets. The antennae will be used by the crab so they will be able to feel the environment that surrounds them. Then the antennules as some chemoreception which will then be used by the crab so they are able to taste and shell their surrounding environment. They actually are also able to see using their eyes which is put on the point of the eyestalks. They have eyestalks so they can see better to all sides of their body which is usable for them especially when they are trying to find prey for their food.

By doing all of those essential mud crab adaptations, then the mud crab can survive well in their environment. They will be able to find their prey well and protecting themselves from any danger including the predators which they can fight.