fiddler crab

noun

: any of several genera (such as Austruca, Leptuca, or Uca) of burrowing crabs in which the male has one claw that is greatly enlarged

Illustration of fiddler crab

Illustration of fiddler crab

Examples of fiddler crab in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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For example, helicopters regularly flying over the study site created vibrations so strong that researchers were unable to record the fiddler crabs’ drumming and had to pause their experiment. Kiley Price, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2024 Multigenerational trips where families rent houses are popular here, too, and the biggest nightlife activity is stargazing under the unpolluted sky and looking for fiddler crabs on the beach. Trudy Haywood Saunders, Travel + Leisure, 26 Mar. 2024 The scuttle of fiddler crabs no longer accompanies walks to a nearby creek. James Pollard, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Aug. 2023 When approached by a potential mate, the male fiddler crab begins to wave its large claw up and down. Discover Magazine, 29 June 2010 See a small fiddler crab scuttling along a log; a skink's dark and half-closed eye; a tiny green buffalo treehopper clinging, upside-down, to a leaf; a Brazilian verbena flower so small that dozens could fit on a quarter. Star Tribune, 29 June 2021 Studies ranged from developing an algorithm to predict oil slicks when satellite images aren’t available, to a way of using fiddler crabs and snails to monitor the health of Louisiana salt marshes. Eric Niiler, Wired, 22 Apr. 2020 The elegant shorebird, with its curved needle beak, racing stripe above the eye, and the long legs of a wader, picked its way through Loagy Bay salt marsh in Wellfleet, plucking fiddler crabs from their finger-thick burrows in the mud. BostonGlobe.com, 26 Sep. 2019 When fiddler crab burrows were tucked among the vegetation, little extra gas was released. Science | AAAS, 15 Aug. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1843, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fiddler crab was in 1843

Dictionary Entries Near fiddler crab

Cite this Entry

“Fiddler crab.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiddler%20crab. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

fiddler crab

noun
: a burrowing crab of which the male has one claw much larger than the other

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