Mad as a Marine Biologist

Showing 32 posts tagged crab

High-res ‘Just hanging out’ - Orang Utan Crab (Achaeus japonicus). Maybe, my favourite crustacean ever. Camouflaged to look like red algae, and so easy to miss, it is well sought after by divers with a penchant for the macro life. Often seen on bubble coral, I’ve only ever spotted one on my own once. When I tried to point it out to my dive buddies [both seasoned divers and marine biologists], I was gutted when they shrugged their shoulders and finned on. Surely they can’t be that seasoned? Upon surfacing, the conversation ended with simultaneous exclamations: “WHAT?! THAT WAS AN ORANG UTAN CRAB?? I thought you were just point out wierd algae”.

‘Just hanging out’ - Orang Utan Crab (Achaeus japonicus).

Maybe, my favourite crustacean ever. Camouflaged to look like red algae, and so easy to miss, it is well sought after by divers with a penchant for the macro life.

Often seen on bubble coral, I’ve only ever spotted one on my own once. When I tried to point it out to my dive buddies [both seasoned divers and marine biologists], I was gutted when they shrugged their shoulders and finned on. Surely they can’t be that seasoned?

Upon surfacing, the conversation ended with simultaneous exclamations:

“WHAT?! THAT WAS AN ORANG UTAN CRAB?? I thought you were just point out wierd algae”.

High-res Red- Eyed Reef Crabs [Eriphia ferox] are seen fairly commonly during the daytime, their beady blood red eyes peering out of dark crevices. But as nocturnal predators, they litter the seashore at night. One has to be careful where one puts one’s foot, in fear of that characteristic crunch of a carapace. One of its pincers is enlarged and armed with a molar-like ‘tooth’ to crush snail shells. The other pincer has slim ‘fingers’ that act like chopsticks to remove the snail after its shell is crushed. I got to see the ‘tooth’ pincer in practice. One crab, who was not afraid of the spotlight, was busy working on a clam, turning it round and round as if it was looking for the weak spots, and scraping the edge to chip it open. Skills.

Red- Eyed Reef Crabs [Eriphia ferox] are seen fairly commonly during the daytime, their beady blood red eyes peering out of dark crevices. But as nocturnal predators, they litter the seashore at night.

One has to be careful where one puts one’s foot, in fear of that characteristic crunch of a carapace.

One of its pincers is enlarged and armed with a molar-like ‘tooth’ to crush snail shells. The other pincer has slim ‘fingers’ that act like chopsticks to remove the snail after its shell is crushed.

I got to see the ‘tooth’ pincer in practice. One crab, who was not afraid of the spotlight, was busy working on a clam, turning it round and round as if it was looking for the weak spots, and scraping the edge to chip it open. Skills.