Recife of fiddler crabs

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     Walking through the streets of Recife is to be enchanted with the life diversity that inhabits the muddy banks of the rivers that cross the city. Stopping on one of the downtown bridges and looking down is the perfect opportunity to observe the behavior of the numerous inhabitants of the "manguetown mud".

      Among the illustrious inhabitants of the mud is the fiddler crab, called in Recife as “xié”. The musician Chico Science said that he saw "the xié walking slowly". In fact, to observe the xié is to be surprised at the most diverse activities that the crab employs, ranging from when it feeds performing fast movements with the smaller chela, which in some cases produces small cylindrical mounds of sand, to when it is involved in fights against other fiddler crabs, using the major chela as the main weapon.

      The xié will draw attention when it digs the substrate in order to build the burrow where it lives. Each time it leaves the interior of its burrow, the crab brings with it a lot of sand that carries under the ambulatory legs. In fact, the life of a fiddler crab revolves around its burrow, because it is from there that it emerges during the low tide, where it finds shelter at the slightest sign of danger, protects itself from dehydration on very hot days and finally it returns to the burrow when the tide goes up.

     Perhaps the most fascinating behavior of these crustaceans is observed during the ritualistic movements that males employ using the major chela. Someone more aware may realize that each species has its own movement. In fact, the fiddler crab uses the major chela in intra- and inter-specific combats, in defense against predators and also to attract the female. For the latter purpose, the crab uses two ways: it waves many times the major chela in the air, or strikes the chela against the substrate, with the intention of producing sound, the latter being used, in general, at night.

     Even during high tides, it is still possible to observe the xié in Recife. In this case, a huge xié that inhabits the mangrove of the Aurora street, in Recife’s downtown. The xié of Rua da Aurora welcomes the visitors and passers-by and warns that his address is there. With the holding of the X Brazilian Crustacean Congress in the city of Recife, there is nothing as opportune as the xié of Aurora Street welcoming the participants, with the majesty of the one who warns that his address is there, and that everyone is invited to enter. Recife, the mangrove, the mud and the xié are waiting you!!

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Author: Luis E. A. Bezerra