Costa Rican Crabs

 With its long and varied coasts, I was not surprised to see quite a few crabs in Costa Rica. What did surprise me was the number of crabs we saw out of the water and far from moisture on many of the hot days down there. This hermit crab was clinging to the side of a tree in the Caribbean rainforest quite a distance from any bodies of water.

 Tougher still, there were dozens of these small hermit crabs on the beach in Corcovado looking for open coconuts to eat. Even early in the morning I was sweating up a storm just walking along that beach in the hot sun, but they were quite active in their search for food and eager to provide some fantastic macro photography options.

 We saw this small crab in the trees of Cahuita and I was surprised to learn that it lives only in the brackish waters along the seaside, but if placed in the ocean would likely die. We have seen many crustaceans in and alongside the ocean in our various travels and around Vancouver, but I was very impressed by their assault on the land in Costa Rica.