urbpan: (dandelion)
urbpan ([personal profile] urbpan) wrote2016-06-25 08:37 pm

UCA PUGNAX!

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Who's that in the hole in the mud of the salt marsh in Wellfleet Mass?

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And who's that in the shallow pool at low tide?

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Who's congregating in the muddy water by the hundred?

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Why it's the Atlantic salt marsh fiddler crab! (Scientific name: Uca pugnax) These adorable little scavengers were very abundant when my dad and I went walking by the shore on our recent visit to Cape Cod. Sexual selection by the female crabs has driven the evolution of one oversized claw on the males.

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