(MY) query on crabs

[Guest guest]

>Can anyone give me a clue as to how to get information on the

>importance of crab and the role they play in the ecosystem and any

>other information on the crabs found in Peninsular Malaysia.

 

 

What you need is a copy of " The freshwater crabs of

Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, " by Peter Ng, aka P.K.L. Ng,

Shinglee Press, 1988, also listed as Backhuys Publishers, 156

pages, paperback, cited so often that it may have been reprinted.

 

Reviews describe it has having been written for a broad

audience, not just scientists.

 

Unfortunately, copies cost about $200 if obtained by special

order in the U.S.--but they may go for a lot less in Malaysia, and

the book may also be accessible from a library.

 

Crabs in general are scavengers, hunters of mollusks, and

prey of birds and many mammals, e.g. crab-eating macaques and sea

otters.

 

Peninsular Malaysia has an unusually large number of unique

native crabs, some of whom have evolved to fill niches normally

filled elsewhere by very different species.

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

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