Soldier Crab

Mictyris longicarpus

Features

Globular; adults have sky blue body. To more than 25 mm across.

Notes

Burrows corkscrew-like into intertidal muddy sandflats. Thousands of crabs emerge on falling tide, to form characteristic 'armies'.

Indigenous, eastern Australia.

Another smaller, less colourful species, Mictyris livingstonei, lives under the shade of mangroves, but does not emerge to march.

Queensland Museum's Find out about... is proudly supported by the Thyne Reid Foundation and the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation.