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| | Fiddler Crab Explanation (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09) |
 | | They use their mouthparts to scrape food materials (decaying organic matter, unicellular plants such as algae, etc.) from the sediment, and then deposit the sediment back down on the ground as a "feeding pellet." The chelipeds are not used to grip or crush things, the way most crabs use their chelipeds. |
 | | Male fiddler crabs, during the breeding period (which happens every 2 weeks for most of the summer) maintain small, cylindrical burrows which they defend vigorously from other males. |
 | | Now, this is not remarkable in itself, since all fiddlers, males and females, dig small burrows at high tide and use them for shelter from the incoming water. |
| tbone.biol.sc.edu /~steven/fiddler_crabs.html (780 words) |
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