1st Place Compact Behavior

PT Hirschfield

Melbourne, Australia

"Cannibal Crab"

PT won a 7 night dive package with extra activities included during the Manta Fest 2019

The Story: Each year I eagerly await the return of the spider crabs en masse as they gather to shed their old shells, presumably finding 'safety in numbers' from predators such as stingrays, angel sharks and octopuses as they all moult in close proximity together. In reality, the most fierce predator of spider crabs is other spider crabs. I have occasionally seen them 'on the march' prior to settling to moult the old brown shells they have outgrown, snacking on another crab's leg as they wander with thousands of others in massive circles around and beneath the pier. Once the crabs have moulted, they become extremely vulnerable as it takes approximately three days for their new, orange shell to harden. Often they climb the pylons of the pier, hoping the height will keep them out of predators' reach. Some survive the ordeal of the moult only to become an instant soft-shelled meal for another hungry animal. I stumbled across this harrowing sight which I both filmed and photographed: a ravenous unmolted spider crab, fiercely feasting upon a freshly moulted crab. It dug its claws deeply into its victim's back, pinning it down before transferring the fresh threads of still living crab meat into its merciless mouth. Between bites, the Cannibal Crab and its hapless victim stared back into my lens - one seeming defiant but justified by its need to feed, the other in all the resigned pathos of the final miserable moments of its life. The survival rate of crabs after they moult is quite low as the hundreds of thousands who have gathered steadily reduce to those lucky hundreds who will live long enough for their shells to harden before heading back out into the depths of the bay before the cycle continues the following year. 

Location:  Victoria, Australia

Equipment Used:  Canon G12, Recsea Housing, Sea & Sea YS-D1 Strobe

Settings: F5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 100

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