There are approximately 33 species of crustaceans across 7 families in Gaomei Wetlands. The diversity of habitats enables these small wetlands to be rich in crustacean diversity. From swimming portunid crabs to ocypodid and grapsid crabs on the sand and gravel, this place is like an open museum of crabs. Most crabs hide in their burrows when disturbed, making it difficult to observe them closely. Nevertheless, because different species dig different types of burrows, you can distinguish them according to different sediment types outside the burrows. If you want to observe the crabs themselves, low tides are the best time. There are fiddler crabs waving their chelae as though they are calling back the tides on the beach. Macrophthalmid crabs stand and stretch their joints to embrace the warmth of the sunshine. The nocturnal Chasmagnathus convexus secretly emerges from its burrow during the sunset. During late March to early April when the temperature gets hotter until late September before the Northeast Monsoon is the best time to watch crabs. In the winter, crabs only came out to feed when there is sunshine and then hide in their burrows from the monsoon.
