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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Crustaceans (Crustacea) » Malacostracans (Malacostraca) » Eucarida (Crabs, Crayfish, Shrimp, etc.) (Eucarida) » Crabs, Crayfishes, Lobsters, Prawns, and Shrimp (Decapoda) » True Crabs (Brachyura) » Fiddler Crabs and Ghost Crabs (Ocypodidae) » Ghost Crabs (Ocypode) » Atlantic Ghost Crab (Ocypode quadrata)
Photo#374652
Ghost crab in New Jersey - Ocypode quadrata
Copyright © 2010 Abigail Parker

Ghost crab in New Jersey - Ocypode quadrata
Corson's Inlet, Ocean City, Cape May County, New Jersey, USA
September 21, 2008
Size: carapace ~15mm wide
A crab on an ocean beach, but I think it's a terrestrial arthropod: it matches the dry sand perfectly, and it came out of a burrow above the high tide line. Totally frassable if it's too crabby, but I'm curious about what it is.
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Contributed by Abigail Parker on 4 March, 2010 - 10:59am
Last updated 24 June, 2010 - 4:43pm

Moved
Moved from Ghost Crabs.
… Abigail Parker, 24 June, 2010 - 4:43pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Crustaceans.

Thanks, John and Ken! It does appear to be a ghost crab, and since it's in New Jersey it's probably an Atlantic Ghost Crab - I'm leaving it at genus level for a bit, at least until I can look into ghost crabs some more.

I remember chasing ghost crabs at night when I was a kid, too, but didn't associate this critter w/ them because it's out in the middle of the day.
… Abigail Parker, 4 March, 2010 - 11:39am login or register to post comments

I believe John's right.
It looks like a young Ghost Crab (Ocypode)--maybe the Atlantic Ghost Crab (Ocypode quadrata):

… Ken Wolgemuth, 4 March, 2010 - 11:27am login or register to post comments

Ghost?
I think this is what we called a Ghost Crab when we were kids, but that means nothing because looking back we got almost everything wrong. I remember going out at night with flashlights to chase them in the dark. Sometimes we caught one, mostly we ran a lot.
… John R. Maxwell, 4 March, 2010 - 11:07am login or register to post comments

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