Hundreds of thousands of Spider Crabs

Every year as the waters cool on the southern shores, hundreds of thousands of Giant Spider crabs find their way…

… up on the sandy shallows Rye and Blairgworie in Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne Australia. This happens between May – July ever year and the result is a moving sea of orange crabs that blanket the shallows.

As the name suggests these crabs are massive. Their legs are over 70cm long with a body measuring nearly 17cm wide. They move in organised chaos on 8 long legs. Their weapons, swollen claws. Their mission, seek shelter in the safety of the sandy shallows, moult and in some cases mate.

Hundreds of thousands of Spider Crabs

[Youtube]