Years ago, I remember driving from Sayulita with my brother and sister-in-law. We often made this 16-minute drive because our mom had a boutique store in Sayulita. During the day we’d help her out, and then drive back to our parents’ house in Higuera Blanca. On this summer day the drive was unusual because there were a lot of crabs. A. Lot. Of. Crabs. Like thousands of them. They were crossing the highway as part of their great annual crab migration to the sea. And unfortunately, there were so many we couldn’t avoid squishing a few under the tires. For the next few minutes one could only hear *crunch crunch crunch crunch* and us saying, “sorry sorry sorry sorry.” It was a little traumatic!
We later learned that this crab migration was an annual event. This also explained the road signs we sometimes saw with an outline of a crab saying “Protect Our Wildlife.” Every summer, after the rainy season begins, the Mexican land crab (Cardisoma crassum) leaves its jungle home. Across Nayarit, they fall in with the other crabs and head to the ocean en masse. When they arrive, they get busy with mating and laying their eggs on the shore. It is quite a sight to behold. There is even a YouTube video called Crab Rave. It shows hordes of similar crabs on the beach, except they are raving and dancing to an infectious beat. I loved the video the moment I saw it, because it reminded me of home. Clearly whoever made it was familiar with this sight. And now I can’t get the song out of my head.
This year, the first few crabs showed up in our kitchen on my birthday. They nervously skittered behind the refrigerator the second they saw us. Never sticking around for long, they would rest in their hiding places for a few minutes, and then they’d be on their way. Always heading west, towards the ocean. We never saw more than four or five at a time by our house. However, at the bottom of the hill, we saw hundreds hiding in the rocks and rustling under the bamboo leaves. As soon as they saw us, they ran away, so it was hard to get a good photo.
Auggie and Dutchy didn’t pay a lot of attention to the crab migration. Auggie did enjoy crunching on any dead ones he found (yuck). In the car, we drive slowly to give them a chance to escape, thus minimizing the under-tire crunching.
On Saturday, I had to help my dad extract a couple that were trapped in the outside drain. We used a combination of net-pole-bucket, but they hid behind the pipes so it was hard to rescue them. Finally we did, and we released them on the mango pile where they’d have a lot to eat. (They are vegetarians.) The bigger ones apparently get into the swimming pool and die from the chlorine. It is sad to find them, but this is life in the jungle.
I am told you can eat them. While I do love crab, I’m not sure I can bring myself to eat my neighbors. I like peacefully co-existing with them. I like watching the crabs work their way through the bushes and up the hill. They will continue to migrate like this for the next couple weeks. I haven’t seen them on the beach yet, but next time I will try to get some more pictures. Perhaps we can re-create the “crab rave” on Litibu beach!