FIDDLER CRAB — HYMAN. 445 



the tenderest finger, and it is not to be compared with the powerful 

 pinch of the blue crab {Callinectes) or stone crab (Menippe) . Fur- 

 thermore, the attack is altogether that of a cornered animal eager 

 to escape and lacks the truly vicious quality of the attack of the blue 

 crab. 



The sand fiddlers are agile runners, but are easily overtaken by a 

 man. As a protection from their enemies they rely in the main 

 upon their burrows. These are dug along the beach just below the 

 high-tide line and extend downward a foot or more at a very steep 

 angle. When the tide comes in the crabs crawl into their burrows and 

 the beating of the wavelets soon stops their doors with sand. When 

 the tide begins to ebb and leaves the wet beach the fiddlers dig them- 

 selves out again. The excavated sand is gathered in wet balls and 

 distributed at a distance about 6 or 8 inches from the opening of the 

 burrow. It is to be expected that the next time the fiddler enters 

 his burrow he will be in a hurry and want a clear road. After he 

 has made sure of his means of retreat he joins his companions at the 

 water's edge. 



Each wavelet of the receding tide casts up on the beach a tiny 

 " windrow " of sand. There is much more than sand in this " wind- 

 row," however. Among the sand grains are caught and left count- 

 less numbers of microscopic plants and animals that dwell at the 

 surface of the sea. The fiddlers walk along the " windrows " as 

 they are formed and with the spoon-shaped tips of their smaller 

 claws or hands scoop up the food-laden sand and stuff it into their 

 mouths as fast as their hands will work. At meal times the females 

 have an advantage. Both of their hands have spoon fingers and both 

 are kept busy. The crabs seldom enter the water, although their 

 station so close to the water's edge exposes them to many a ducking 

 in the wavelets. At times, too, when an enemy approaches from the 

 land side the fiddler may elect to hide in the water, partially burying 

 himself in the loose sand, rather than run for the burrow. These 

 short intervals in the water are the most hazardous periods in the lives 

 of adult fiddlers. Blue crabs like to lie in the shallow water and wait 

 for little fish that get stranded, and they have learned that they can 

 also pick up a considerable number of fiddlers. When the tide begins 

 to rise and no new " windrows " are left on the beach the fiddlers 

 will wander elsewhere in search for food. They will climb about 

 over stones or piling at the water's edge and always there are a few 

 that lose their footing in spite of their eight legs and fall overboard. 

 A fiddler overboard is a fiddler lost. They can not swim, and hungry 

 fishes, like the black sea bass and the sheepshead, quickly gobble 

 them down. 



Although there is a continual daily loss of their members, the 

 droves of fiddlers on the beach do not get smaller year by year. The 



