Photos by Bob Thomas, Asa Wright Nature Centre, Trinidad, June 2004.

Manicou crabs are abundant along the trails and the entrance road at Asa Wright, as well as the entire Arima Valley.  They are land crabs, but their larvae need to develop in water.  The female (lower photo) keeps her eggs attached to her swimmeretes (pleopods).  When they hatch, she makes her way to water and releases them.

In Trinidad, the local name for an opossum is “manicou.”  Since the female keeps her eggs and young on the lower side of her shell until released, the locals have dubbed this crab “manicou.”