| Scientific name : | Ocypode ceratophthalmus (Pallas, 1772) |
| English name : | Ghost Crab |
| Creole name : | Crabe grangalop |
| Family : | Ocypodidae |
| Distribution : | |
| Seychelles : | Mahe, Praslin, Coetivy |
| World : | It is the most widespread species of Ocypode and found from the eastern African coast to Hawai and Australia. It does not appear to populate the upper part of the western Inian Ocean (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b). |
| Ecology : | |
| Habitat : | Sandy beaches, near the seafront |
| Diet : | Carnivorous and cannibalistic |
| Activity : | diurnal and nocturnal |
| Burrowing : | Constantly burrowing new burrows after each tide |
| Description : | |
| Size : | Carapace width : 38 mm, length : 37 mm |
| Morphological remarks : | The eyestalks have a long styliform straight process which is missing in juveniles (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b). |
| Differences in sexes : | The first and second walking legs of males have a double brush of hair on the lower face of the propodus. In females the brush is single on the first and barely visible on the second walking leg (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b). |
| Picture : |  |
| Scientific name : | Ocypode cordimana Desmarest, 1825 |
| English name : | Ghost Crab |
| Creole name : | Crabe grangalop |
| Family : | Ocypodidae |
| Distribution : | |
| Seychelles : | Mahe, Praslin, Coetivy |
| World : | a widespread Indo-Pacific species ranging from the Red Sea, Somalia, Madagascar, Natal to Japan and Tahiti. (Hartnoll, 1975). |
| Ecology : | |
| Habitat : | Sandy beaches, further from the seafront than Ocypode ceraphthalmus, near the edge of the beach and the vegetation. |
| Diet : | Carnivorous and cannibalistic |
| Activity : | diurnal and nocturnal |
| Burrowing : | Constantly burrowing |
| Description : | |
| Size : | Carapace width : 29 mm, length : 24 mm |
| Colour : | carapace green-grey, claws white. I observed it changes its colour according to the environment. It becomes pale white when exposed to white sand and in full sunlight. |
| Morphological remarks : | It is the only species of Ocypode noticeably lacking the stridulating apparatus in the palm of the major claw (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b). |
| Differences in sexes : | |
| Picture : |  |
| Scientific name : | Uca chlorophthalmus chlorophthalmus H. Milne Edwards, 1837 |
| English name : | Fiddler Crab |
| Creole name : | Crabe bondyepinimwa, Crabe semafot |
| Family : | Ocypodidae |
| Distribution : | |
| Seychelles : | Mahe, Praslin |
| World : | Restricted to the African coast from Somalia to South Africa, Mauritius and Madagascar (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b). |
| Ecology : | |
| Habitat : | Mangroves and mudflats (part which is submerged during high tide) |
| Diet : | Detritivorous |
| Activity : | during low tide, stays inside his burrow during high tide |
| Burrowing : | Burrowing |
| Description : | |
| Size : | Carapace width : 16 mm, length : 10 mm |
| Morphological remarks : | A small-sized, broad front species having a moderate, tuberculate ridge on the palm and a typical triangular depression at the external base of the immobile finger. |
| Differences in sexes : | Males have one enormous cheliped (red coloured) and one small one.
Females have 2 small chelipeds. Males are more colored |
| Pictures : | |
| Male : |  |
| Female : |  |
| Scientific name : | Uca urvillei H. Milne Edwards, 1852 |
| English name : | Fiddler Crab |
| Creole name : | Crabe bondyepinimwa, Crabe semafot |
| Family : | Ocypodidae |
| Distribution : | |
| Seychelles : | Mahe, Praslin |
| World : | From Somalia to Natal, Madagascar, the cosat of Pakistan and western India (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b). |
| Ecology : | |
| Habitat : | Mangroves and mudflats (part which is submerged during high tide) |
| Diet : | Detritivorous |
| Activity : | during low tide, stays inside his burrow during high tide |
| Burrowing : | Burrowing |
| Description : | |
| Size : | Carapace width : 33 mm, length : 19 mm |
| Morphological remarks : | A large-sized, narrow front species. It is the only Uca of this area with a long row of tubercules on the floor of the orbit (in both sexes) and with the dactylus of the major claw having a long distinct groove covering most of its length (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b). |
| Differences in sexes : | Males have one enormous cheliped (fingers yellow-white, upper margin of the claw yellow-orange and the lower margin, near the external base of the immobile finger, ornage-red coloured) and one small one.
Females have 2 small chelipeds. Males are more colored |
| Pictures : | |
| Male : |  |
| Female : |  |
| Scientific name : | Uca tetragonon (Herbst, 1790) |
| English name : | Fiddler Crab |
| Creole name : | Crabe bondyepinimwa, Crabe semafot |
| Family : | Ocypodidae |
| Distribution : | |
| Seychelles : | Mahe, Praslin |
| World : | From the Red Sea to Tanzania, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Indonesia and the central Pacific (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b). |
| Ecology : | |
| Habitat : | Mangroves and mudflats (part which is submerged during high tide) |
| Diet : | Detritivorous |
| Activity : | during low tide, stays inside his burrow during high tide |
| Burrowing : | Burrowing |
| Description : | |
| Size : | Carapace width 27 mm, length : 19 mm |
| Morphological remarks : | A larged-sized, narrow front species, no oblique ridge on the internal face of the palm (Vannini and Valmori, 1981b). |
| Differences in sexes : | Males have one enormous cheliped (whitish with a red-orange patch at the base of the mobile finger) and one small one. Females have 2 small chelipeds. Males are more coloured (blue-white-red carapace) |
| Picture : | |
Family : Ocypodidae, Ortmann, 1894
