On the slopes of the
Fern Valley, where the light of late spring barely reaches, holes of various sizes pepper the earth. These are the burrows that sheltered the forest's
red-clawed crabs through nearly half a year of winter sleep. If you look closely into the darkness of those burrows, you may just catch a glimpse of a great red claw — belonging to a crab that has only now stirred awake, drawn out by the warm breezes of early summer.
The red-clawed crab is a terrestrial crab found widely along the forested coastlines of the Japanese archipelago, where warm ocean currents flow. Apart from molting, feeding, and the annual journey to release their larvae into the sea, these crabs spend almost their entire lives on land — in the forest and across the wetlands — rarely entering the water at all. On midsummer nights, the larvae are released into the sea near the tidal flats, where they drift and grow for nearly a month before returning to the flats at summer's end, transformed into juvenile crabs, ready to make their way back once more into the forest of Koajiro.
The red-clawed crab makes its home across every realm of this landscape — the forest, the tidal flats, and the open sea. In doing so, it inhabits the full breadth of the
Koajiro ecosystem, and stands as the very symbol of Koajiro itself.
Featured species: Red-clawed crab (a terrestrial crab found widely in coastal forests of warm-current regions)
Highlights: From late spring to early summer, look for burrows on the slopes of the
Fern Valley and the large red claws of crabs newly emerged from hibernation
Life cycle: Moves between forest,
tidal flats, and sea; releases larvae into the ocean on midsummer nights
Significance: A creature that inhabits forest, tidal flat, and sea alike — the emblematic species of Koajiro
Location: Koajiro, Misaki-cho, Miura City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Map:
Koajiro Forest Map
Official Site:
Koajiro Forest (Kanagawa Prefecture)
Supervising editor: Yuji Kishi (Professor Emeritus, Keio University)
Photography: Hiroichi Yanase (Professor, Institute of Science Tokyo)
Producer:
Eisuke Tachikawa (Representative of
NOSIGNER / Project Professor, Keio University)
Published by:
NOSIGNER / NPO Koajiro Outdoor Activity Coordination Council
