Tubuca polita, Tin Can Bay, Qld, Australia 2

''Tubuca polita'', commonly known as the polished fiddler crab. or pink-clawed fiddler crab is a species of

fiddler crab The fiddler crab or calling crab may be any of more than one hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae, well known for their sexual dimorphism, sexually dimorphic claws; the males' major claw is much larger than th ...

that is found in the northern part of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

including the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land ...

''Tubuca polita'' was formerly a member of the genus ''

Uca The fiddler crab or calling crab may be any of more than one hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae, well known for their sexually dimorphic claws; the males' major claw is much larger than the minor claw, whil ...

'', but in 2016 it was placed in the genus ''

Tubuca ''Tubuca'' is a genus in Ocypodidae, a family of fiddler and ghost crabs. There are more than 20 described species in ''Tubuca''. Species These 23 species belong to the genus ''Tubuca'': * '' Tubuca acuta'' (Stimpson, 1858) * '' Tubuca alcocki' ...

'', a former subgenus of ''Uca''. The name ''polita'' comes from the unusually smooth ("polished") surface of the "manus" (the lower claw and wrist).

Description

Like other fiddler crabs, ''Tubuca polita'' males have one claw that is significantly larger than the other, while females have two equal-sized smaller claws. It has a brown and blue-black carapace with cream or grey green marbling, or in some areas yellow or occasionally orange or pink. The male claw has a rose pink hand with white fingers. The width of the carapace is up to around 25 mm. This species is found adjacent to mangroves on the seaward side. They live in mud or sandy mud, in burrows, but on flats rather than steep banks. They are often found together with

Gelasimus vomeris ''Gelasimus vomeris'' is a species of fiddler crab found in the southwest Pacific Ocean. In Australia, it is found in the east and north from Darwin to Sydney. It is commonly known as the two-toned fiddler crab, orange-clawed fiddler crab o ...

and

Tubuca seismella ''Tubuca'' is a genus in Ocypodidae, a family of fiddler and ghost crabs. There are more than 20 described species in ''Tubuca''. Species These 23 species belong to the genus ''Tubuca'': * ''Tubuca acuta'' (Stimpson, 1858) * '' Tubuca alcocki'' ...

crabs. Unlike some other fiddler crabs, females also wave their claws in addition to males. These crabs mate on the surface rather than in burrows.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107086663 Ocypodoidea Taxa named by Jocelyn Crane Crustaceans described in 1975