{"id":52156,"date":"2012-09-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/royalresorts.com\/blog\/marching-by-moonlight-cancuns-blue-crab-migration\/"},"modified":"2021-11-30T17:42:24","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T17:42:24","slug":"marching-by-moonlight-cancuns-blue-crab-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.royalresorts.com\/blog\/cancun\/marching-by-moonlight-cancuns-blue-crab-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"Marching by Moonlight, Cancun\u2019s Blue Crab Migration"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Every <strong>September<\/strong>, thousands of <strong>blue crabs (<em>Cardisoma guanhumi<\/em>)<\/strong> emerge from the mangroves surrounding the Nichupte Lagoon in <strong>Cancun<\/strong> for their <strong>annual moonlight migration<\/strong> to the sea where they lay their eggs. The migration coincides with the full moon and is taking place from <strong>September 28, 29 and 30 <\/strong>this year. It is repeated in October.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Blue crabs inhabit mangroves, coastal wetlands, jungle and scrub and dunes but spawn in the sea. They face a perilous journey to the water, not only are they tasty morsels for raccoons, coatimundis, frigate birds, herons and other predators, but they also have to negotiate manmade challenges such as <strong>busy roads<\/strong>, <strong>swimming pools<\/strong> and <strong>other barriers<\/strong>. <strong>Many never make it to the beach<\/strong>; they are <strong>run over by cars<\/strong>, <strong>trapped in mesh fences<\/strong> or <strong>drown in pools<\/strong>, <strong>cisterns and drains.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Biologists working in the<strong> Ecology Department<\/strong> at <strong>Cancun City Hall<\/strong> organize an <strong>annual campaign to protect the blue crab<\/strong>, which is now an endangered species in the area. Armed with buckets and <strong>helped by local volunteers<\/strong> they patrol two stretches of <strong>Kukulcan Boulevard<\/strong> in the <strong>Hotel Zone<\/strong> bordered by mangroves: <strong>Playa Linda<\/strong> and <strong>El Mirador II <\/strong>at <strong>Punta Nizuc<\/strong>, and <strong>Playa del Ni\u00f1o<\/strong> on the road from <strong>Puerto Juarez<\/strong> to <strong>Punta Sam<\/strong>, on the lookout for crabs approaching the road. When they see these crustaceans, they carefully scoop them up and place them in the bucket. They are then released in a safe place on the other side of the highway so that they can continue their journey. The <strong>patrols take place from 7 to 11 p.m. every night during the migrations in September and October.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Volunteers wear white and assemble at <strong>Playa Las Perlas<\/strong> and <strong>Punta Nizuc<\/strong> at 7 p.m. with buckets, leather gloves, torches and eco-friendly insect repellent. They patrol in pairs or small groups.<br \/>\nThis incredible natural spectacle is repeated throughout the Mexican Caribbean and crabs can often be spotted crossing Highway 307 in the <strong>Riviera Maya <\/strong>on their way to the sea, a considerable distance!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The blue crab\u2019s journey is just one of the natural migrations that take place during the year in the Mexican Caribbean. <strong>Lobsters <\/strong>and <strong>cow-nose rays <\/strong>migrate to their breeding grounds and from <strong>December <\/strong>to <strong>June<\/strong> <strong>sailfish<\/strong> pursue huge schools of sardines, anchovies, mackerel and jacks. Female <strong>sea turtles <\/strong>come ashore on area beaches in the summer to lay their eggs. And from mid-May to mid-September, abundant plankton and fish roe in the ocean between <strong>Holbox<\/strong> and <strong>Cabo Catoche<\/strong> and to the east of Contoy and Isla Mujeres attracts hundreds of manta rays and the world\u2019s largest fish, the <strong>whale shark<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Photo by <strong>MSNBC<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cancun"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.3.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Marching by Moonlight, Cancun\u2019s Blue Crab Migration - 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