Meet the Manicou Crab: Main Ridge Mountain-dweller
Amy Deacon, Lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine and Secretary of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists’ Club, continues to explore the aquatic habitats of the Main Ridge. Meet the manicou crab! This feature was published in the Tobago Newsday on Thursday March 23, 2017 We have already met a few of the incredible fish that make their home in the upper streams of the Main Ridge. However, they are not the only aquatic creatures to have taken on the challenge of living in this extreme habitat – they share the streams with one of the Main Ridge’s most charismatic inhabitants: the mountain, or manicou, crab. Manicou crabs roam throughout the Main Ridge Reserve and can even be found at the highest peaks. Photo courtesy Amy Deacon Native to Tobago and Trinidad, Venezuela and the island of Margarita, this ten-legged crustacean can grow to around 10cm in carapace width, and can weigh up to 250g. While most crabs are associat...