Mangrove Crab Outruns its Namesake in Climate-Driven Coastal Shift

A crab named for mangrove forests is leaving them behind.

New research from William & Mary’s Batten School & VIMS shows the Atlantic mangrove fiddler crab (Leptuca thayeri) is settling into temperate salt marshes along the southeastern U.S. coast. Published in the Journal of Crustacean Biology, the study documents the species as far north as Beaufort, South Carolina, almost 200 miles north of its traditional range in Florida.

“You have the mangrove fiddler crab outrunning the mangroves,” said co-author David S. Johnson, associate professor at the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences & VIMS. “That’s what makes this so fascinating. It’s one of the clearest examples of climate change that you can see.”

To read more, please visit Virginia Institute of Marine Science.