Moon crab (Matuta lunaris)

Moon Crab This spotted moon crab is commonly encountered on our shores. Sandy silty shores, especially near seagrasses. It is more active at night and is rarely seen by daytime visitors as it is then often buried in the sediments. 'Lunaris' in Latin refers to the moon. Geotagged,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,Maharashtra,Matuta lunaris,Moon crab,Nikon,Tamron,WildIndia,WildMaharashtra,Winter,crab,crustacean,dapoli,kokan,macro,moon,ratnagiri

Distribution

Indo-Pacific area.

Behavior

These crabs normally burrow just below the surface during the day. They forage for small shellfish, worms and other animals at night (Tan and Ng, 1988). Their paddle-like legs are for swimming and digging.

Habitat

Can be found on tidal sand flats in front of mangroves. Common in sandy to muddy open areas, Sand flats near mangroves, not a real mangrove crab, but often associated with them. Can occur in deeper waters

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://www.madeinnys.com/mangrove/m_lumaris.htm

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Animalia
Division	Arthropoda
Class	Malacostraca
Order	Decapoda
Family	Matutidae
Genus	Matuta
Species	Matuta lunaris

Photographed in
India