Uca pugnax Walking through the marsh one can't help but notice the fiddler crabs and their abundant burrows.
Fiddler crabs get their name from the male's large claw.
They use the claw to defend their burrows and to attract mates. Males have a highly ritualized combat of arm-waving, bobbing of the body, and standing with an open, upright stance. Combat rarely gets physical as there is too much risk of injury to either crab. The mud fiddler, U. pugnax lives in burrows in the muddy saltmarshes of the Eastern United States. The crabs can reach approximately 25-30 mm carapace width.