Rising Tide Images
Excavator
Shoveling sand to build a burrow and an adjacent sandcastle, this horn-eyed ghost crab scoops and carries with the large left claw then flings the sand with the smaller right claw. Interestingly, individuals are right or left clawed (laterality). Males heap the excavated sand high in the intertidal zone of a broad sandy beach, thought to be a territorial signal to other crabs or to attract a potential mate. Horn-eyed ghost crabs (Ocypode ceratophthalmus) range across the Indo-Pacific and Polynesia.
Excavator
Shoveling sand to build a burrow and an adjacent sandcastle, this horn-eyed ghost crab scoops and carries with the large left claw then flings the sand with the smaller right claw. Interestingly, individuals are right or left clawed (laterality). Males heap the excavated sand high in the intertidal zone of a broad sandy beach, thought to be a territorial signal to other crabs or to attract a potential mate. Horn-eyed ghost crabs (Ocypode ceratophthalmus) range across the Indo-Pacific and Polynesia.