Swimming pool crabs (Halloween Crab) by David Ingram
Allow me to share with you something that is sure to make your day; there is such a creature on this Earth as Halloween Crab. And as you can see, its wildly colourful look deserves the name. But they also have many other names; Harlequin Land Crab, Moon Crab, Mouthless Crab to name just a few. They dwell in the rainforests of Central America (mostly Costa Rica) where they are apparently pretty common. They eat mostly shoots and leaves (insert obvious grammar joke here) which they drag back to their burrows to eat in safety.
Just as all land dwelling crabs must, the Halloween Crab is restricted to stay near the sea. Once a year when the stars are just right they return there to reproduce. They travel en masse to a beach somewhere to find a mate and finally when the moon is just right the female lays the fertilized eggs into the surf where they hatch and hopefully make it back to land. Since these are land-dwelling crabs, many of the females will give their lives by drowning while laying their eggs. Now that’s dedication.
Halloween Crab by Ben Saren
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