Jan 23, 2012: Crab Balls

Put away the seafood sauce, you don't want to eat these crab balls.

Small hermit and soldier crabs in Malaysia and Australia build their home digging a deep hole in the sand on a beach. They got a good idea of how to move sand up during his construction. Down in the hole this crab is making sand balls and later push them up to the surface, 2-3 balls at a time. Pushing sand ball more far from the hole they form a kind of sand ball flower or sand ball galaxy.

Then the tide comes in and they start all over again. :facepalm:
Makes me wonder if some will evolve enough to dig above the high water mark, but maybe the sand's not wet enough to dig.

The Ark in Space via Kuriositas

I've seen little fellers like that in mud flats in far north Queensland.

It isn't clear in this pic, but the ones I saw arranged their balls (ahem) so as to leave unobstucted paths back to their holes, so they could bolt to safety quickly.

There are heaps of soldier crabs around here. They are very interesting watch.

Screwy eyes!

Cool!

We have them all over the beaches in Waratah Bay too (near Wilsons Prom in Victoria). They're mostly tiny, but their crab balls make fabulous patterns all over the beach.

How do you get their legs apart?

These pictures made me think of the similarities with mine tailings, so I did a Google image search to find a picture that would show off those similarities. Don't do Google image searches for mine tailings. It's too depressing.

Do soldier crabs have guns? Or weapons?

The claws don't impress you?

I liking this Engrish.

crabs? balls?

Monster has found pubic lice.
Don't get to say that every day.

That looks like eyelashes to me...

glatt;790108 wrote:

These pictures made me think of the similarities with mine tailings, so I did a Google image search to find a picture that would show off those similarities. Don't do Google image searches for mine tailings. It's too depressing.

Oooh, purty colors.

Got to see crab ball ejects in Mexico and Malaysia. Same random thrown pattern, sometimes with access paths. But on Cherating Beach (Malaysia's East coast) there were hairy sand dollars that cruised just below the wet sand, forming abstract patters and looking weird.

They cruise under the sand? Cool, I'd like to see pictures of that if you have some, dave74. Oh, and welcome. :D

I hope you stick around longer than Dave1 through Dave73.

I've seen them before. Are they only in Malaysia and Australia? I musta seen 'em in Port Douglas i guess.

He didn't say only, just those are the two places he saw them.

You might well have seen them in Port Douglas.

SPUCK;790092 wrote:

Screwy eyes!

Now we know where Tic Tacs come from!:D

Eeeeeew. :eek:

SPUCK;790092 wrote:

Screwy eyes!

Just like Mr Krabs!

[ATTACH]37031[/ATTACH]

Oh yeah!! Totally.


Mmmm burgers...