Awesome Crabs

Hermit crabs are known for their ability to reside in the abandoned shells of other sea creatures. I did a thing wanted to know if one of these crustaceans would wear a shell made out of metal, like a tiny suit of armor. So he got to work casting some metal seashells and put them in a tank to see if a crab would put one on.

As SpongeBob once said, “You don’t need a license to drive a sandwich.” But President Chay drove his custom-built Patty Wagon on public roads, so it was a good idea to have a licensed driver behind the wheel. The highly-modded golf cart has a sesame seed finish and steel-belted pickles, but no french fryer under the hood.

The nature photographers at John Downer Productions are known for infiltrating animal communities by packing cameras into lifelike robots. In this clip from Spy in the Wild 2, one of their robots crab-walked with thousands of real-life crustaceans and played a crab version of Frogger crossing the roads on Christmas Island.

Smithsonian Channel’s Epic Animal Migrations journeys to the west coast of Mexico to witness two spectacles of nature. The first: millions of pelagic red crabs rising to the surface to dine on plankton. The second: thousands of giant eagle rays gliding beneath the waves – some emerging from the water into the air.

These little desktop crabs are ready to hold your pens, business cards, eyeglasses, or even a steak knife in their pincers. Designed by Japanese artist Ahnitol, the crabs are available over on Etsy shop CrabCakes Crafts individually or in a set of four. They also sell a lobster with slightly larger claws.

Alpha footage from Japanese indie developer Nussoft’s upcoming game Kani no Kenka aka FightCrab aka The Fight Game You Didn’t Know You Needed. Watch in awe as two sword-wielding crustaceans battle it out to the death. Loser goes to Red Lobster.

National Geographic presents brief, but nonetheless fascinating look at a carrier crab, as he stomps around the ocean floor carrying a spiny sea urchin on his back to scare off predators. A few special guests hitch a ride for their own protection too.

Jonathan Bird’s Blue World shares footage of one of nature’s odd relationships – as a hermit crab helps move a pair of anemones from her old shell to a bigger one. The anemones offer the crab protection, and the crab offers food to the anemones. (Thanks Paul!)

Come at me bro, and I’ll cut you! We’re not sure what made this crab so angry, but he’s got his claw on a knife, and he’s not backing down. All we know is that he’s not going in the pot without a fight.

If these were tiny spiders, we’d be totally creeped out, but there’s something oddly soothing about this video of Jeremias Maluw as he picks up a handful of teensy crustaceans and lets them crawl all over his hand.