This
little fellow shown here is one of Australia's best kept secrets. It is
a pretty little crab with a blue and white body of around 25mm (1 inch)
and almost bright orange legs and claws. Don't let this fool you. They
are called Soldier Crabs and rightly so as they appear in an army and they do
march just like soldiers. They suddenly appear in thousands from nowhere on
low tide on some of our beaches. The sound they make when moving along is guaranteed
to transform your skin into just as many goose pimples. Some have slightly mutated
now and showing a much darker blue on their body. They seem to be more aggressive
and show more of a superiority over the other ones. When they they start marching
in a direction all the others follow. They must be higher ranking officers.
Beaches where they appear are a well kept secret. If found out our
tourist industry could be in jeopardy. They are the piranhas of the crabs. A
few of them will take only seconds to strip all the flesh of your toes. Once
they start they get into a feeding frenzy and almost nothing will stop them.
Once finished they move closer to the waters edge. There they lay their body
on it's side and in an anti clockwise motion they drill themselves into the
sand until they completely disappear. As soon the tide is rising they are safely
covered by the water. Fortunately once covered by water they become harmless
and the beach is safe for swimmers. But once the tide drop beware. Some have
seen as many as a hundred thousand on one beach. Now if you want to know
if this story is true or not send me an e-mail.
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Here are a couple of those critters showing off their colour. The size shown here is pretty close to in real life
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On the march
Some of the dark striped mutants