Mud Crab (Scylla Serrata)

The mud or mangrove crab is found in mangroves and estuaries of Australia, Asia and Africa. Their shell is of green or brown colour and hence the name is given. Its natural region is around the Indo Pacific area. Thus you can find it from South Africa, the Indian Ocean to the Malay Archipelago, and from southern Japan to south-eastern Australia, and as far east as Fiji and Samoa.

Nowadays this species has been introduced in Hawaii and Florida. Since they were imported from American Samoa they are given the name Samoan crab in Hawaii. Their big size and delicious meat makes their demand high and led to over crabbing, To stop the same the government has had to put a ban on the crabbing of species less than 6 inches of size.

The juveniles are residents of Mangroves while sub adults can be found in the high tide region. On the other hand, the adults are seen in the low tide zone. The mud crabs are cannibalistic in nature. When they are moulting they have a tendency to devour other crabs around them. Females of this species give birth to a million offspring and thus their population never goes down.