Crab tanks - Vietnam's largest shallow crab species only available in Con Dao

This is the largest shallow crab in Vietnam, the length of tomorrow may be more than 10cm. Their larger and more heterosexuals (big, small side) are strong enough to tear leaves and eat plants.

This species is present in Con Dao National Park for a long time without the scientific community of the country. They are not named in animal books and each time referring to this species, the researchers only call it the generic name 'crab tank' (simply because it crawls like . tanks).

Worthy of the mix

After collecting the samples and comparing them with the previous description of the researchers, as well as consulting foreign experts about the vehicles, the mysterious curtain of this strange crab has been gradually lifted.

In Vietnam, there is only Con Dao National Park, the mangrove forest area has this crab.

The crab tank has a scientific name (Latin name) Cardisoma canifex (Herbst, 1794) of the shallow crab family - Geocarcinidae. The name Cardisoma of this crab originates from Latin with the combination of two groups of words: 'Cardi' means 'heart', 'soma' means 'body', because the apricot shape looks very cordate. This crab has another name like Cardisoma obesum Dana, 1851; Cardisoma urvillei Milne Edwards, 1853; Perigrapsus excelsus Heller, 1865; Cardisoma carnifex Miers, 1886; Cardisoma guanhumi var. carnifex Ortmann, 1894; Cancer hydrodromus Herbst, 1796.

Crab tank is the largest shallow crab species in Vietnam and Indochina peninsula : the length of tomorrow may be more than 10cm. Crab tanks are omnivores, swimming feet eventually turn into legs to crawl, the spikes on the apricot also completely dissolved, adapted to cave life. The color of chestnut crab is chestnut (dark brown). Crab tanks can dig burrows up to 2m with a diameter of 8-12cm.

Although living in a cave in the terrestrial area of ​​the tidal flat or sandy beaches, swamping rocks above the tide level, the tank crabs must migrate to the sea to spawn, thus providing stable water temperatures and food richness. , suitable for growing larvae.

The larval lifespan goes through five stages: the first stage lasts for 22-25 days, then moves to the stage of the large eye larvae. Now they float in the oceans until the external morphology grows like the adult crab. However, the size is only a few millimeters at this time. After that, your child will find his way back to where their ancestors once lived.

Big but fragile

Crab tanks can be up to 2m deep.

Worldwide, the tank is widely distributed: Africa and Indo - Pacific Sea, including Fiji Island. The islanders of Fiji have introduced this rare crab image into the island's postage stamp.

In Vietnam, there is only Con Dao National Park, the mangrove forest area has this crab. The reason for the increase in the species of the car is because the larval stages of this species travel in the warm waters of the ocean, the waves are washed away and somehow the young crabs return to the source. But why tank cars can live in the Con Dao mangrove area but cannot live in other mangrove areas like Can Gio and Ca Mau . is still difficult to explain without extensive research. industries such as ocean currents, food webs, ecology, genetics . as well as specific habitat conditions of Con Dao crab species.

This crab does not have a scientific name in the books of the home country, so in order to conserve them, there is an intensive research program. Over the years, people have been unfair when they do not bother to look at them, now it is not too late to make reasonable conservation policies.