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The river crayfish (Astacus astacus)
When I met these crabs, I was surprised because I didn't even know there were crabs in our rivers. Then I read that it lives only in clean rivers, the bottom of which is clayey and gravelly. That it is a protected species because it is becoming less and less... And hunting for crabs is completely prohibited...
Crabs feed on the bottom, eating aquatic plants, shellfish...smaller fish...insects...shellfish... amphibians... And other plant and animal remains. Crabs are important links in food chains because they feed on smaller organisms... and they themselves are a source of food for other animals.
They are hunted by otters like other mammals... Then pike and other predatory fish... And there are also birds, for example herons.
Crabs are animals that live at night and spend the day hidden, mostly... Because as you can see, I photographed them during the day... So I was surprised when I found that they are active mostly at night.
They seemed lively to me even now as I watched them caressing themselves on the concrete.... Were they sunbathing or just examining the territory and maybe they were also eating algae that got caught on the concrete..
They are not territorial, but when mating season or lack of space can be aggressive towards other crabs... It was still interesting to me when I read that if they lose a leg, it can grow back....
I came across crabs on the Karaš River, near Jasenovo.(Banat,Srbija)
On a small dam that makes waterfalls...
That part was beautiful to me and I wanted to get as close to the water as possible... But I didn't want to disturb the crabs, and they headed for my bare feet, so I climbed up... I didn't want them to bite me...
In male crabs, the pincers are bigger and wart-like and rougher... As the crab grows, it has to change its armor, mostly it eats the old armor because of the minerals.... The female carries about 200 fertilized eggs under her tail.. for eight or nine months... Small crabs are initially 9 millimeters in size...after the second swipe, they become independent and separate from their mother....
I hope you enjoyed this small presentation of these interesting creatures 🤗
I can't continue to be surprised that I saw them, and where did they come from 🤭
I'm not even aware of how little I know about rivers and their inhabitants... I know about various types of fish... And that's it
...
That's all for tonight.
Thank you very much for visiting my blog ❤️
Have a nice evening and wonderfull Sunday ✨☀️
https://prirodahrvatske.com/2018/08/12/rijecni-rak-astacus-astacus/