Freshwater crabs include more than 1300 species worldwide and contain 20% of all the brachyurans. Freshwater crabs are the decapod crustaceans, which play a significant ecological role in tropical freshwater ecosystems besides having economic importance.
Freshwater crabs live exclusively in tropical and subtropical freshwater habitats worldwide for their entire life cycle, and that reproduce by direct development without any free-living larval stages.
Five families (Pseudothelphusidae, Potamonautidae, Potamidae, Gecarcinucidae, and Trichodactylidae) are exclusively composed of freshwater species, the primary freshwater crabs.
Most species of freshwater crabs are omnivores that eat vegetable matter, live invertebrates, and even small vertebrates. They can be caught in most freshwater ecosystems, from clear, fast-flowing montane streams to slow-flowing rivers and streams, as well as in peat and freshwater swamps, stagnant ponds and rice fields, and even in pools in tree holes and leaf axils.
Freshwater Crab
