: any of a genus (Uca) of burrowing crabs in which the male has one claw that is greatly enlarged
Illustration of fiddler crab
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebSee 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 The fiddler crabs are like little invertebrate peacocks. James Gorman, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2018 From the coast, anglers continue to report limit catches of sheepshead from rockpiles and around the gas wells on cut shrimp or fiddler crabs fished on bottom. Frank Sargeant, AL.com, 30 Mar. 2018 Is there more to find out about fiddler crab mating? James Gorman, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2018 Hit the right stretch of jetty or the right oyster reef on a mild, relatively calm day, bait hooks with fiddler crabs or shrimp and fish them close to the structure and landing a five-fish limit of sheepshead can be almost a cinch. Shannon Tompkins, Houston Chronicle, 3 Feb. 2018 See More