Like it or Not

This rogue crustacean is often hated by turtlers worldwide because of its taste for sea turtle eggs and hatchlings. Yet, the ghost crab (here: Ocypode quadrata from the U.S.) is one of many animals potentially responsible for a healthy dune system, a vital habitat for any sea turtle species.

Just as data suggest that sea turtles are important nutrient importers into the dune ecosystem via nest deposition, ghost crabs are constantly bringing nutrients into their subterranean lairs in the form of tide-deposited flotsam. Ghost crabs will eat just about anything and often store food stuffs in their holes, which are most often located on the beach from the tide mark to the lee slope of the foredune, occasionally crabs create burrows past this area and closer to the ecotone (where the dunes and woods meet).

Animals such as ghost crabs are just one way that the relatively xeric dune environment receives nutrients. Without such nutrients the plants responsible for dune growth would not grow and the sea turtles would not have suitable nesting habitat. Now, the question is, how much do ghost crabs contribute to enriching the dune ecosystem with nutrients, compared with other dune denizens? A good dissertation for any interested.

Maybe folks will think twice before killing these potentially beneficial neighbors of nesting sea turtles.