Monsters From The Murky Depths Of The Bayou

  Fiddler crabs are funny little creatures.  They spend most of their time in the mud.  They dig burrows in the soft mud, they spend hours sifting mud to find food and they hibernate in the mud during the winter.  With all this dealings with mud, you would think these were "mudbugs" but not so.  Mudbugs are crayfish or as we call them down here "crawfish".  But back to those crazy little crabs.  Usually, fiddler crabs are pretty docile critters if you can ever catch one.  The speedy little crabs dart into their holes so fast that it is unusual that one is caught.  If you are lucky enough to catch one, however, it is a rare occurrence that you will be on the receiving end of a pinch.  Their claws are used more for feeding and for their ostentatious display during courtship.

  It is also rare to see any actual combat between rival males.  More oft than not, the larger of two competing males will intimidate the smaller one.  Just waving a larger claw around in the air seems to be enough battle for the crabs.  Today, however, I noticed a regular battle happening down near the marsh.  

  The tide was unusually high causing water to flood up under the old oak trees.  A small disturbance in the water caught my eye and I immediately thought that a tiny snake was having trouble getting ashore.  As I stood staring at the ripples, two large claws rose up out of the water.  The claws were clasping each other as two males fought over territory and a female that was observing the fight.  She actually seemed to be a bit unimpressed with the whole ordeal.

  I watched for a few minutes but decided that being chewed upon by hoards of mosquitoes was not a bright idea.  The fiddler crabs would have to settle their differences without my interference.  Yeah, I was really bored today.  So much so that I watched an underwater battle between two crabs.