Muddies...Can they see?? or do they rely on smell?

[spinkway]

Hi All

We have conflicting advice re muddie crabs. Some say the smell of the bait is more improtant. Others have said that it is what they can see is importnat, hence their big eyes!

So what is the real deal??

J n P

[szopen]

Vast majority of crabs can see.
Some of them (land crabs) very well.



As for what is important for water crabs to find food I would say smell, as this is what lets them find the stuff from some distance away.

[webby]

Under water they rely more on senses to find food, even though the can still see, on land the reverse happens and they have eyes like hawks.
regards

[Braddles]

Hey guys;

I cant be 100% sure, but I think that all invertebrates rely on multi facet sensory input for survival.

I would go one further to suggest that a mud crab probably has several "eyes" in the one occular appendage (we may confuse for a single eye), much like a fly for exaple... #This is common within the invertebrates.

I think the olofactory sense would be used most heavily in the water, especially when locating food. # Vision would be then important to co-ordinate a capture (ie: close the claws at the right time around a moving fish for example).

Vibration is also heavily relied upon by crabs. They have tiny hairs which detect vibration / movement in the water and on land, but I am not sure if this is for hunting or for survival.

Hope this helps.

Brad.

[DICER]

The small muddies sure know how to aim and pierce your thumb in a fraction of a second.

In muddy water you can set a pot and have a crab in 5 minutes. That leaves not much time for finding the opening.

Has anyone caught them on soft plastics?

[slugo]

crabs can sure smell.. back in february I had just placed a trap out in shallow brownish water and drifted away with the tide and in about 10 min we must have drifted a good 50 mtrs away from the trap when we notice a crab shape moving in the shadows towards the trap. with the midday sun and wearing polarise sunnies we could see this moving shadow so we cranked the motor and slowly followed it towards the trap and WHACKO it was a huge buck that travelled against the tied from some distance away.
yep they can smell and they even smell better in a hot pot..

cheers

[tuppence]

after chasing them for 40 years i am sure they can see smell and hear,

cheers