Gone crabbin'

We went crabbing today. In trees. If you're saying to yourself, "don't those guys on Deadliest Catch go to the Bering Sea to catch crabs?", you are right. Lots of crabs live in the ocean. Some live on land too. And some live in trees in mangroves. It sounds crazy, but mangrove tree crabs (Aratus pisonii) climb up trees, from the water to the tops of trees. They are pretty small crabs, so you're not likely to see these on your dinner plate anytime soon. Despite or maybe because of their small size, they are really fast and really hard to catch! They hang out on aerial roots or the trunk of a tree and creep around the other side when you approach, and it seems like they can see you coming a mile away. The mangrove tree crab below is one we caught and put in a bucket, hence the white background: