By ERIK LOVESTRAND
When I moved to Wakulla County from Central Florida 34 years ago, it felt like I had landed in paradise. The abundant woodlands, wild coastline, freshwater springs and small-town atmosphere had me hooked for life. And even though our county has grown significantly in population and infrastructure since then, I still believe we live in paradise.
If you ever have doubts about it, take a drive down Skipper Bay Road through the Refuge. When you clear the treeline, stop your vehicle, get out, and take a few minutes to soak in the view.
The wide-open vistas of our wilderness coast salt marshes have a way of rearranging our perspective.
It will not be long before your attention is drawn to some of the wildlife in this scenic setting.
Tidal creeks meandering through the needlerush are replete with killifish, blue crabs, oysters, and many other species. These shallow channels can be mostly empty of water during low tides but will flood to their landward extent on high tides. This provides access to a vast supply of resources that support the creatures living there.
Many of our fisheries along the coast also have direct connections to these marshes. Our mullet, spotted seatrout, and a host of other species spend time in the marshes during their juvenile stages.
On a low tide, you will notice occasional sandy patches dotted with small holes and tiny piles of sand pellets next to them. These salt flats are the home for the subject of this article, the “sand fiddler crab.”
We have at least three species of fiddler crabs on Florida’s northern Gulf Coast. They can be identified by looking closely at the male’s large claw for particular features.
The sand fiddler crab has smooth edges along the inside of its large claw. Fiddler crabs serve an important role as nutrient recyclers in the marsh. They feed by sifting algae and small bits of decaying marsh plants from the sand or mud.
They also serve to aerate the top several inches of the sand by excavating their burrows.
Scoop up a handful of sand from a salt flat with a crab colony and you will notice that it does not have the “rotten egg” smell of the deeper, muddy areas in the marsh.
Fiddler crabs are preyed upon by many species of wading birds, gulls, and even wild pigs. I almost always find signs of rooting on the sand flats.
When the salt flats are exposed at low tide, the fiddlers come out of their burrows to feed, usually in a large group together. You will quickly notice the difference between the males (one big and one small claw) and the females (two small claws).
Males wave the large claw during courtship to attract a female (hence the name “fiddler”). They will mate in his burrow and following a two-week gestation period she will emerge to release her hatching babies into the water.
The next generation is on its way and that is a good thing as fiddlers only live about one and a half years.
Even though they are small crabs, fiddlers play an outsized role in our marshland ecology. The salt marsh is what it is because of them, and we are blessed as citizens of Wakulla County by the wisdom of our predecessors who established the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge along our coastline.
Erik Lovestrand is a UF/IFAS regional Sea Grant agent in Wakulla, Franklin and Gulf counties.
