Native crab of outerbanks north carolina?

Question

i am in naggs head at outer banks in north carolina and i was on the beach. i noticed a bunch of little crabs speeding along n stuff. does anyone know what kind of crab that is? it is small at the moment, but my dad says they can get as big as your hand. i think they may be fiddler crabs, or blue crabs. but im not sure. it was close to dusk too. and does anyone know why they were out? like leaving the beach to feed in the water, or leaving the water to feed on the sand.

Answer 1

You're going to have to describe the crab. There are a dozen crabs native to the Outer Banks.

Blue Crab is one, but they seldom come up on to the beach. Blue crab are, um... blue. They are the crabs that you eat. They are red after they are cooked though.

Fiddler crabs, or ghost crabs come out onto the beach at dark. They are light colored and run very fast. They live in holes in the sand. They pop up out of the hole, run around, and duck back down their hole very quickly. They are very hard to see. They don't get very big.

Lady crabs and mole crabs are also native. You would never see a mole crab walking around though. Lady crabs have purple spots.