Crabs return

At Playa Carrillo, the beach looks like the Normandy Invasion.  The sand is pock-marked with holes and sand mounds, about a meter apart..

We see this every year, the morning after the first rain of the season.  The holes stretch for a 1/2 kilometer in front of the wetland across the road from the beach.

 

These are the culprits, red and purple land crabs, about the size of a small fist.  It’s a sad fact that many do not make the trek across the road, which is paved in crab shells.

But are they laying eggs in the sand or hatching?