bit crabby

when i was little, i thought that water meters looked like crabs
some days, i would pretend i believed they were crabs
they do look remarkably like crabs!
this picture accompanied an article about the famous crab migration of christmas island (in the telegraph, uk)
i remember seeing a great documentary about the christmas island crab migration
really well made
here is a link to it, and a great dramatic blurb ...
Red Crabs Crazy Ants [Christmas Island Crabs documentary] [click to download and watch, or buy!]
Two enemy armies are locked in a life and death struggle for Christmas Island, 360 kilometres south of Jakarta. During their spectacular annual migration millions of red crabs are under attack from yellow ants, and the ants are winning. Can worried scientists turn the tide?
watch a little bit now...

i remember reading a travel guide about cuba too, an island with its own crab migrations. the author was trying to visit the bay of pigs, and there were all these crabs in the way
an excerpt from cuba - wild island of the caribbean
Each spring millions of small reddish land crabs emerge from the moist forests surrounding Cuba’s Bay of Pigs to breed in the nearby sea. As NATURE’s Cuba: Wild Island of the Caribbean shows, the evening invasions — which last for weeks — can wreak havoc on ordinary life. Roads become covered with smelly smashed crabs, while car owners must repair tires shredded by the sharp shells.
part of the same show,
Those that reach the sea face one last challenge — laying their eggs while avoiding being swept back into the water.
watch the spawning cuban crabs
another snippet of information i got somewhere (a book? a doco? the internet?!!) was about another snippet of information i got somewhere (a book? a doco? the internet?!!) was about hermit crabs
hermit crabs live in shells.
they also carry their shells, so if they outgrow their shell, it's not just a question of finding any old larger shell and using that one. it's important to find one that is "just right". so how do you find a "just right" shell?? this is what the scientists have found out about the hermit crab answer to the classifieds,
When a hermit crab discovers an empty but oversized shell, it waits nearby rather than simply walking away. Once a small group gathers, crabs begin piggybacking by holding onto the shell of a larger crab and riding along. Such waiting and piggybacking behaviors seem to increase the chances that a synchronous vacancy chain will happen. "They spend hours queuing up, and then the chain fires off in seconds, just like a line of dominoes," says Rotjan. Computer models populated with virtual hermit crabs and shells confirmed that synchronous vacancy chains depend not only on crab density, but also on how long crabs are programmed to wait near an unsuitable shell.
read more about it here
video of hermit crabs moving house

oh i do love this story!
this fitzroy crab looks pretty happy with its house, i must say. it's not going anywhere.