S. smithii dominated the area between 5-30 m followed by M. messor . The distance of 40-50 m from the estuary was dominated by S. guttatum followed by M. messor. Juveniles of the unidentified crab species were dominant towards the first 10 m of the transects. As shown in figure6, the highest number of crabs was recorded from 0-10 m distance and the lowest was recorded at 40 mdistance.
Shannon Weiner diversity indices for the crabs in three habitats are given in Table 1. Highest diversity of the crabs was observed in the area closer to the estuary and the diversity decreased with the increasing distance from the eastuary.