There’s a place where people love their crabs with a special kind of reverence – and no, we’re talking about all the Baltimoreans and Chesapeake Bay dwellers that are prideful to live in an area that boasts some of the best-tasting crustaceans. We’re talking about Christmas Island, a territory of Australia located in the Indian Ocean, home to the Christmas Island red crab. Every year at the end of October, these brightly colored creatures that live on land participate in a migration as vast as the ocean itself. Leaving the forest in search of the shore, up to 100 million crabs set out to spawn. Though a terrestrial animal, the gills of the red crab larva are only capable of functioning in the water, making the migration necessary to their continued survival.
Because the island is inundated with the crabs as they begin their journey towards the sea, islanders make concessions to protect the crustaceans. Amused by the swarm of crabs, Christmas Islanders close roads and create clever diversions to keep the hard-shelled creatures from getting crushed and car tires from losing air. A true attraction, the Christmas Island red crab migration draws tourists, naturalists, wildlife photographers, documentary film makers, and the like.
When the crabs reach the shore, the males aggressively fight and dig burrows, competing for females, who are drawn into the best tunnel-like homes to procreate. When the act is done, the males head back to the forests, while the females stay behind for almost two weeks before releasing their eggs into the ocean over the course of six consecutive nights. The females then return to their homes in the forest, leaving the larvae, which will hatch and grow in the sea before giving way to a host of tiny crabs.
What happens next? Tune in next week to learn more about the fascinating red crabs of Christmas Island. Can’t wait to hear more about these crustaceans? Come to Costas Inn, a seafood restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland – we’ve got plenty of crabs to share.
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