Behavior
When crabs mate, the female stores the male’s sperm until she releases her eggs. The eggs are
kept in a mass (sponge) on the abdomen of the female and released simultaneously with the
stored sperm, which flows over and fertilizes the eggs. Zygotes develop through four phases:
fertilized egg, zoea larvae, megalops larvae, and adult (Coulombe 1984). Through personal
observations we discovered that when mangrove root crabs are disturbed these crabs remain motionless for a short period of time before moving quickly sideways into a nearby burrow.
If the crab does not automatically move away, it will bring its front claws forward in a defensive position.