land crab

land crab
any of several crabs, esp. of the family Gecarcinidae, that live chiefly upon land, returning to the sea to breed.
[1630-40]

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      any crab of the family Gecarcinidae (order Decapoda of the class Crustacea), typically terrestrial, square-bodied crabs that only occasionally, as adults, return to the sea. They occur in tropical America, West Africa, and the Indo-Pacific region. All species feed on both animal and plant tissue. Cardisoma guanhumi, a land crab of Bermuda, the West Indies, and the southern United States, lives in fields, swamps, and mangrove thickets. Some penetrate inland as far as 8 km (about 5 miles). Adults weigh about 0.5 kg (18 ounces) and measure about 11 cm (4 inches) across the carapace, or back. Gecarcinus lateralis, occurring from Bermuda to Guyana, is 9 cm wide. Like Cardisoma, it may live a considerable distance from the ocean.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Land crab — Land Land, n. [AS. land, lond; akin to D., G., Icel., Sw., Dan., and Goth. land. ] 1. The solid part of the surface of the earth; opposed to water as constituting a part of such surface, especially to oceans and seas; as, to sight land after a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • land crab — noun 1. : any of certain crabs chiefly of the family Gecarinidae of the coasts of warm countries that live mostly upon land and breed in the sea and that include many forms (as Gecarinus ruricola) that attain considerable size and are eaten by… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Land crab — Taxobox name = Gecarcinidae image caption = Cardisoma armatum regnum = Animalia phylum = Arthropoda subphylum = Crustacea classis = Malacostraca ordo = Decapoda infraordo = Brachyura superfamilia= Grapsoidea familia = Gecarcinidae subdivision… …   Wikipedia

  • land crab — n. crab which spends all or most of its life on dry land …   English contemporary dictionary

  • land crab — noun a crab that lives in burrows on land and migrates to the sea to breed. [Family Gecarcinidae.] …   English new terms dictionary

  • land crab — /ˈlænd kræb/ (say land krab) noun any of several crabs, especially of the family Gecarcinidae, which are partially adapted to terrestrial life. Land crabs of varied species occur in many tropical regions …  

  • land-crab — a person who is not a fisherman (Newfoundland) …   Dictionary of ichthyology

  • land-crab — …   Useful english dictionary

  • great land crab — noun : a large swift moving dull grayish land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) of the family Gecarcinidae that is widely distributed from southern Florida and the West Indies to Brazil, is chiefly nocturnal, and lives in deep burrows or the open fields… …   Useful english dictionary

  • black land crab — noun : a large active burrowing land crab (Gecarcinus lateralis) that is widely distributed on the Caribbean islands and the northern coast of So. America …   Useful english dictionary

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