Brought to you by the N. J. Meadowlands Commission as part of our 40th anniversary celebration
The event is Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
E-mail Jim Wright here to register.
Click here for earlier post with directions and more information.
Click continue reading for full schedule.
We saw this Fiddler Crab (and an entire bluegrass festival's worth) along the Hackensack River recently. (We thank Erik Kiviat for letting us tag along.)
As we are learning, there are more than one type of Fiddler Crab around. According to NJMC naturalist Brett Bragin:
"The diagnostic features to look for would be: 1) were there grooves on the carapace behind the eyes? 2) was it over 7/8" long?, 3) Did it have an oblique row of tubercles on the palm of the large claw?, and 4) did it have red joints?
"If yes, I would say it was Uca minax, the brackish-water fiddler crab (sometimes called the red-jointed fiddler crab). If not, then it was probably the mud fiddler crab (Uca pugnax)."
We are thinking the latter.
More on Fiddler Crabs here.
Click "Continue reading…" for a photo of another kind of crab — photographed this week at the Visitor Center.