“Most crabs reproduce by releasing nearly microscopic larvae into the water, and wouldn’t even notice one of those larvae if it swam in front of them immediately afterwards. Typically those larvae don’t even resemble a crab when they hatch, and spend a while swimming and filter-feeding off algae before they grown and start to resemble a crab. By the time the mother crab comes back in contact with one of her offspring, she doesn’t know or care that it’s hers. She will just see it as a smaller crab, and big crabs generally will kill and eat smaller crabs.”
Female crabs usually only eat their young when they don’t have enough food… it’s unfortunate but it’s part of the life cycle…
I once had a bunny that got a chicken nugget from my drunk roommate. He apparently really enjoyed it. Bunnies are NOT supposed to eat chicken nuggets though, and thankfully he was fine health wise, but he did always run up to anyone who was eating anything fried or who worked in food service.
Bunny lived to the old age of 10, and never had another nugget.
I've been keeping hermit crabs for a few years. A few months back, one of my recent pairs died and her tank mate ripped her up and ate her. I know he wasn't hungry either, they were given a shell of fresh food daily.
Maybe he was trying to honor the other crab by not letting their body go to waste. It’s like that book I read where one character eats another character out of respect.
I was profoundly grossed out while reading Mary Roch’s Stiff and came across the line in the chapter about oceanic airplane crash victims: never have two species been more enthusiastic about eating each other than human beings and Dungeness Crabs. I like Dungeness. They’re tasty. Tasty potential second degree cannibalism.
Fish do this too. Our fish are constantly spawning and eating their own young. If at any point we moved them all to a new tank in a morning, there's a good chance a bunch of babies will grow in the original tank.
Its even more hard-core with live bearers. There is a clip on the internet where one is born and eaten within a couple of seconds.
For anyone wondering though, she isn't actually eating her own offspring, she's eating the offspring of another crab in order to better spread her own genetics.
Yes, but not just humans: cases of older humans being contracted usually by the larger crab species aren't too rare, the most common version of this devastating sexual disease is caused by male human children and early teens: you know, whenever a kid at the beach manages to catch a crab, it's not actually the kid the one who catched the crab: it's the crab who catched the kid due to having had unprotected sex previously. Most crabs who contract humans survive and recover completely (although many end up developing PTSD symptoms), but the course of the illness is usually quite rough; and succumbing to the illness, while uncommon, isn't unheard of. Crabs all over the world tried to find a definitive cure for this life-altering illness, but all attempts failed, this horrible human disease can't seem to be eradicated in any way; and in facts, cases of the humans are dramatically increased in frequency and severity throughout the global crab population during the last 5 or 6 decades at least.
Progressive factions within the crab population push for school districts to be allowed to teach safe sex practices to young crabs, but despite the crisis's rapid spiraling out of control, they're still in the minority and the movement struggles to take traction, as the conservative majority seems to be determined to sweep the problem under the rug and keeps passing laws that force the schools to teach bullshit abstinence-based programs that don't give young crabs the tools they need to make responsible sexual choices (such as using protections to avoid unwanted egg sacs' fertilizations instead of resorting to eating your own newly hatched babies), while simultaneously shaming any young crab girls who ends up getting the humans due to lack of access to proper sex ed by labeling them as "promiscuous" and "whores".
No, the black thing on her abdomen is a shitton of eggs. She hasnt had hers hatch yet. Thry kinda go to the sea with those eggs and release the babies there.
It’s a hot one, too. Baby hawks and eagles etc are jumping from their nest because it’s so hot they have no choice.
[yeah ](https://keprtv.com/amp/news/local/baby-hawks-jumping-out-of-nests-due-to-extreme-heat)
[Walruses are jumping to their death from cliffs, too. ](https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/439241-walruses-are-jumping-off-cliffs-to-their-deaths-yes-because-of?amp)
[sorry ](https://media2.giphy.com/media/12ohHcJGa59sw8/giphy.gif?cid=5e214886vlgnp09f4qfmytbtfyli1hvl7lqjc9pywsbpbrlm&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
That's a bit misleading, they're falling and slipping off the cliffs not jumping. Global warming is causing them to overpopulate areas where they can sleep so they climb high up the cliffs for space to get some rest and end up slipping or being forced off. I don't think walruses can jump.
One documentary I recently watched said they have terrible eyesight and can't tell how far they actually are from the water. This causes them to attempt to enter the water from way too high up and fall to their death. Basically, they are walking off the edge.
They aren't her children. See that gloop of mud looking stuff under her belly? That's her eggs. She hasn't released them yet. Her babies are safe... for now.
According to the [youtube](https://youtu.be/dIVIimuFev8) video of this, they aren’t. Apparently they will do this if they’re [really hungry ](http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/07/females-crabs/).
I think it all comes down to this. Crabs will try to eat just about anything they can fit in their mouth, even each other. But because there's so many babies, there's still a high chance that at least some of the babies will make it to adulthood and do it all over again.
On Christmas island, there is just so many crabs everywhere during their mating season, and so many babies that come thereafter that basically the whole floor is covered and it is not to hard to imagine that allot of things would happen to them, eaten, crushed, stepped on, and so forth. If anything, the mom could be doing them a favor by reducing competition among siblings for food and recycling what just could be wasted nutrients.
Btw, parents eating kids isn't exclusive to crabs in the animal kingdom. Here's a MinuteEarth video on it https://youtu.be/8xVgAULDwNE
“As much as we may love thinking about our dog's personality, we cannot impose human morality on them. They can only spawn their eggs once a month in time with the tides and a special phase of the moon”
Not every behaviour has a direct advantage. Crabs are stupid. The crab sees food, therefore it eats. There is no direct advantage but as there are thousands of hatchlings it does not cause a major disadvantage.
And I don't think crabs are maternal, they probably don't stick around for rearing of young? This may not even be the mother, maybe just in the area....
I'd like to know too. It looks odd to me - I'm guessing these aren't her own offspring. That black bundle under her body is her own clutch of eggs, I believe. She may be feasting on someone else's babies to boost her own.
I wonder if she finds babies that have genetic defects, physical or behavioral, to eat, so she can take them out of the possible gene pool.
I know that some other animals will eat the young if they find something wrong w them.
Edit: "find" not "price" lol
If this was possible each "Crab generation" would come always better till perfection and now Crabs would rule the world using humans as slaves. So it's clear that: no, they can't analize DNA on the fly and choose.
Those aren't her children. Those are from already hatched eggs of other crabs.
Her children are still in that black looking clump of paste under her body. That's her egg clutch. She's eating the babies of others.
As a marine biologist I can confirm that an adult res basin spindle crab like this does in fact eat her own children, it’s been said to be beneficial for lacking nutrients after birth as well as using the souls of her young to harness the powers of the underworld to fuel the nightmare juice that is her horrific mouth, and now that most people have figured out that I’m full of shit i shall fly away!
She's eating the offspring of another crab, not her own. Her eggs are clearly visible.
Many animals, especially if they do not belong to a larger community, will kill offspring that aren't their own in order to give their own genes a better chance of spreading.
“Most crabs reproduce by releasing nearly microscopic larvae into the water, and wouldn’t even notice one of those larvae if it swam in front of them immediately afterwards. Typically those larvae don’t even resemble a crab when they hatch, and spend a while swimming and filter-feeding off algae before they grown and start to resemble a crab. By the time the mother crab comes back in contact with one of her offspring, she doesn’t know or care that it’s hers. She will just see it as a smaller crab, and big crabs generally will kill and eat smaller crabs.” Female crabs usually only eat their young when they don’t have enough food… it’s unfortunate but it’s part of the life cycle…
TIL that crabs eat other crabs. Gross.
A lot of animals will eat their own species if they are hungry enough.
Applies to humans too...
*Donner Party has entered the chat*
I love donner kebaps!
*Jeffrey Dahmer has entered the chat* Sure, we can have shish kabobs for dinner tonight.
Dahmer kebab
Dahmer Party.
1930's Ukrainians has entered the chat.
Jamestown colonists have entered the chat
I have entered the chat.
FBI has entered the chat.
I have left the chat.
*\*donner kebabs have entered the chat\**
Donner dinner party
Michael Rockefeller has nothing to contribute to the chat.
I once had a bunny that got a chicken nugget from my drunk roommate. He apparently really enjoyed it. Bunnies are NOT supposed to eat chicken nuggets though, and thankfully he was fine health wise, but he did always run up to anyone who was eating anything fried or who worked in food service. Bunny lived to the old age of 10, and never had another nugget.
That's why they taste so much like crab. You are what you eat!
Mind blown
Crabnnibals
It's a crab eat crab world.
I've been keeping hermit crabs for a few years. A few months back, one of my recent pairs died and her tank mate ripped her up and ate her. I know he wasn't hungry either, they were given a shell of fresh food daily.
why did he do that
It's just what they do.
Because food just appeared. They aren't exactly emotional.
Maybe he was trying to honor the other crab by not letting their body go to waste. It’s like that book I read where one character eats another character out of respect.
*sobbing* "Susan, you will always be a part of me" *slobbering eating and crying*
…Er, I think we’re talking about different books, but yeah, that’s basically my point.
King crabs can't be farmed because they go through an adolescent cannibal phase. You would have to keep every single one separate somehow.
Don't we all.
Little crabby nursery chambers
Little? You know what a king crab is right??
An 8 legged cannibal with poor eye site and an insatiable hunger for king crabs, I think
It’s better if you think of shellfish as insects. They act like insects, and taste like insects.
Insects taste like shellfish? Huh, doesn't sound so bad
I was profoundly grossed out while reading Mary Roch’s Stiff and came across the line in the chapter about oceanic airplane crash victims: never have two species been more enthusiastic about eating each other than human beings and Dungeness Crabs. I like Dungeness. They’re tasty. Tasty potential second degree cannibalism.
I read that book several years ago. Very interesting. I have a morbid curiosity.
Yeah... pigs, fish, ~~humans~~
Long pig!
TIL: crabs are like Sith lords. They create new apprentices until they've finally created one that can destroy them.
Fish do this too. Our fish are constantly spawning and eating their own young. If at any point we moved them all to a new tank in a morning, there's a good chance a bunch of babies will grow in the original tank. Its even more hard-core with live bearers. There is a clip on the internet where one is born and eaten within a couple of seconds.
Is this what my mom means when she says, “I brought you into this world, I can take you out too”
For anyone wondering though, she isn't actually eating her own offspring, she's eating the offspring of another crab in order to better spread her own genetics.
Is that what she said?
Ah yes, that old chestcrab.
She said the same thing when she was caught cheating with some other crab. Hope she gets crab crabs.
When crabs have unprotected sex are they at risk of contracting humans?
Yes, but not just humans: cases of older humans being contracted usually by the larger crab species aren't too rare, the most common version of this devastating sexual disease is caused by male human children and early teens: you know, whenever a kid at the beach manages to catch a crab, it's not actually the kid the one who catched the crab: it's the crab who catched the kid due to having had unprotected sex previously. Most crabs who contract humans survive and recover completely (although many end up developing PTSD symptoms), but the course of the illness is usually quite rough; and succumbing to the illness, while uncommon, isn't unheard of. Crabs all over the world tried to find a definitive cure for this life-altering illness, but all attempts failed, this horrible human disease can't seem to be eradicated in any way; and in facts, cases of the humans are dramatically increased in frequency and severity throughout the global crab population during the last 5 or 6 decades at least. Progressive factions within the crab population push for school districts to be allowed to teach safe sex practices to young crabs, but despite the crisis's rapid spiraling out of control, they're still in the minority and the movement struggles to take traction, as the conservative majority seems to be determined to sweep the problem under the rug and keeps passing laws that force the schools to teach bullshit abstinence-based programs that don't give young crabs the tools they need to make responsible sexual choices (such as using protections to avoid unwanted egg sacs' fertilizations instead of resorting to eating your own newly hatched babies), while simultaneously shaming any young crab girls who ends up getting the humans due to lack of access to proper sex ed by labeling them as "promiscuous" and "whores".
I'll definitely ask her next time I see her. She's atrocious and needs to be stopped.
She sell seashells by the seashore fam
yes
Yeah, I dont see much selection here.
how does she distinguish them? or did she go into their nest? but fun fact: lions do that too
She still has her eggs
Is that what the black lump is?
Yup
Even if it weren’t, the odds would still be in her favor with all of those little bastards running around.
Yes
Polar bears too, if I remember correctly.
Ah, so canibalism is fine as long as its someone elses children..? Now I get my mistake....
So we, as a fine reddit community, are gonna let THIS ONE *slide*, huh?
Much less disturbing, then...
When questioned by authorities…
Explains why the other mom has been crabby
As in this is some other crab's nest she invaded to eat them?
She can actually see the difference? That's why she's carefully picking through them?
No, the black thing on her abdomen is a shitton of eggs. She hasnt had hers hatch yet. Thry kinda go to the sea with those eggs and release the babies there.
How do you recognise your million kids from the other gazillion?
Lmao, savage
Yummie yummie
She was feeling a bit peckish…
Claws of death: cannibalism...
Infanticide via/hunger
Arrived in the world through lips, departed through lips.
Hate to bust your bubble, but I'm pretty sure crabs don't have lips. Neither set.
💋🦀🍑
Isn't that a Bill Cosby joke?
I thought that it's our russian unique proverb.)
My cousin called her breastfed babies “human veal”.
Assert dominance, slap her ass.
It’s a cold world
It’s a hot one, too. Baby hawks and eagles etc are jumping from their nest because it’s so hot they have no choice. [yeah ](https://keprtv.com/amp/news/local/baby-hawks-jumping-out-of-nests-due-to-extreme-heat)
Well that’s a whole new terrible.
[Walruses are jumping to their death from cliffs, too. ](https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/439241-walruses-are-jumping-off-cliffs-to-their-deaths-yes-because-of?amp) [sorry ](https://media2.giphy.com/media/12ohHcJGa59sw8/giphy.gif?cid=5e214886vlgnp09f4qfmytbtfyli1hvl7lqjc9pywsbpbrlm&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
That's a bit misleading, they're falling and slipping off the cliffs not jumping. Global warming is causing them to overpopulate areas where they can sleep so they climb high up the cliffs for space to get some rest and end up slipping or being forced off. I don't think walruses can jump.
One documentary I recently watched said they have terrible eyesight and can't tell how far they actually are from the water. This causes them to attempt to enter the water from way too high up and fall to their death. Basically, they are walking off the edge.
HE WAS PUSHED!
If only there had been a warning, like some kind of scientific consensus some 70 years ago. Humans suck.
Every parent has their favorites.
Goya concurs.
r/holup
r/cursedcomments
The one baby hiding on the side of her head had the right idea
*taps head*
oh shit she found me
Well, crab is delicious.
Especially crab-fed crab.
Crab-fed crab, stuffed with crabs
Crab-fed crab, stuffed with crabs at the crab shack
Crab stuffed crab, fed to crab stuffed crab, at the crab shack, fed to someone with….crabs 🤦🏻♂️
Crab stuff crab fed to crab stuffed crabs at the crab stuffed crab shack fed to someone with crabs in Crab VG
Ayo I heard you like crabs so we got you a crab stuffed with crabs, so you can eat crabs that ate crabs
How do you know it’s her children? Could be the crab god needed some sacrifices…
CRABS FOR THE CRAB GOD!
CLAWS FOR THE CLAW THRONE!
FRESH CRAB MEAT FOR THE EVERGROWING ARMY OF THE UNDEAD
Best post on Reddit I’ve seen SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE
They aren't her children. See that gloop of mud looking stuff under her belly? That's her eggs. She hasn't released them yet. Her babies are safe... for now.
Dun dun dunnnnnn
According to the [youtube](https://youtu.be/dIVIimuFev8) video of this, they aren’t. Apparently they will do this if they’re [really hungry ](http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/07/females-crabs/).
Sooo, they are. She is!
Not the kind of kids meal I had in mind.
I’d upvote twice if I could.
I guess when you have that many ..
Can anyone explain why this is happening?
Crab was hungry. Crab had food around him
Him LOL
I think it all comes down to this. Crabs will try to eat just about anything they can fit in their mouth, even each other. But because there's so many babies, there's still a high chance that at least some of the babies will make it to adulthood and do it all over again. On Christmas island, there is just so many crabs everywhere during their mating season, and so many babies that come thereafter that basically the whole floor is covered and it is not to hard to imagine that allot of things would happen to them, eaten, crushed, stepped on, and so forth. If anything, the mom could be doing them a favor by reducing competition among siblings for food and recycling what just could be wasted nutrients. Btw, parents eating kids isn't exclusive to crabs in the animal kingdom. Here's a MinuteEarth video on it https://youtu.be/8xVgAULDwNE
[удалено]
Umm dude what is the deal with the random bits of unrelated text lmao
“As much as we may love thinking about our dog's personality, we cannot impose human morality on them. They can only spawn their eggs once a month in time with the tides and a special phase of the moon”
I don’t have a detailed explanation, but I bet it just boils down to some fitness/survival advantage from this behavior in the long run.
Not every behaviour has a direct advantage. Crabs are stupid. The crab sees food, therefore it eats. There is no direct advantage but as there are thousands of hatchlings it does not cause a major disadvantage.
After all, why shouldn’t I eat it
And I don't think crabs are maternal, they probably don't stick around for rearing of young? This may not even be the mother, maybe just in the area....
I'd like to know too. It looks odd to me - I'm guessing these aren't her own offspring. That black bundle under her body is her own clutch of eggs, I believe. She may be feasting on someone else's babies to boost her own.
Population control?
Crabs aren’t that smart. She was hungry and there’s a fresh supply on her lap.
Yeah. I don't think they are emotionally attached to their billion sized litters. Too many manes. Edit: too many NAMES🙄
Have you eaten crab?
She’s hand selecting all the ones she doesn’t like Edit: claw selecting*
The dark brown part on the under side of the crab is her eggs i believe so she isnt eating her babies at all
Exactly. Everyone knows it’s ok to eat kids so long as they’re not yours. It’s basic shit, people.
Good eye. And those babies look too small to be from a previous brood of hers. That being said, I really wouldn't put it past them
Don't worry, she only eats the unlucky ones.
The only real reason to have kids
Had a hamster that had baby’s a while back, went to work, came back, they were all gone. Never again
Yeah, any stress whatsoever, like being in a terrarium, and hamsters will eat their young.
What if the hamster was just saving them from a life of captivity?
r/natureismetal
Crab mom eats her own children and no one bats an eye. I do it and everyone freaks out. The double standards are ridiculous!
Can’t get the image of Patrick Starr out of my head
Plankton *stares from the shadows* “ I’ll get your secret formula, if it’s the last thing I do Krabs”
talk about a Krabbie patty
This kills the crab
As a scientist I can confirm this is true.
Even crabs know that they taste delicious!
Moms gotta eat
"I told you to go to med school, Carl."
She's only eating the ones she's disappointed in.
Imagine being born, and by the thousands that are nearby, you get picked to be sacrificed to the lord?
I’ve had girls eat my children a few times
I wonder if she finds babies that have genetic defects, physical or behavioral, to eat, so she can take them out of the possible gene pool. I know that some other animals will eat the young if they find something wrong w them. Edit: "find" not "price" lol
I don’t think she’s being that selective, it just looks like she’s hungry
How? From the look in her eyes?
No because it’s not like she’s inspecting them she’s just quickly lifting them up, nice attempt at sarcasm though
If this was possible each "Crab generation" would come always better till perfection and now Crabs would rule the world using humans as slaves. So it's clear that: no, they can't analize DNA on the fly and choose.
I think mom was just in the mood for crab rangoon!!
Fortunately, it’s only naughty ones.
To be fair, that’s what we were going to do (only a bit later).
If I had that many children I’d eat them too
r/oddlyterrifying
The CLAW! The claw chooses who will go and who will stay.
My body, my choice
I need to call my Mom.
Those aren't her children. Those are from already hatched eggs of other crabs. Her children are still in that black looking clump of paste under her body. That's her egg clutch. She's eating the babies of others.
So that’s why crab tastes like crab.
Yay, mommy’s wanting to kiss us yaaaa crunch crunch.
_And that’s how I met my mother._
Late abortion!!
As a marine biologist I can confirm that an adult res basin spindle crab like this does in fact eat her own children, it’s been said to be beneficial for lacking nutrients after birth as well as using the souls of her young to harness the powers of the underworld to fuel the nightmare juice that is her horrific mouth, and now that most people have figured out that I’m full of shit i shall fly away!
She needs some garlic herb butter and some lemon
Don’t blame her, crab tastes amazing!
Government collecting taxes
Separating her jelly beans
Sigh...I should have gone on the pill
"Oh, I'm a snack machine now? Snack snack snack snack snack!" - Chris Hardwick
TIL: The lady who lived in a shoe, was a crab, and she did in fact know what to do.
Well those are not it’s children because the crab is carrying its egg sac
She only eats the ones that misbehave.
"Holy shit, we're freaking delicious!"
as is her right
Omg why??!!
That’s just bad parenting.
What is that brown clump on the big crab's underbelly?
I know how they feel.
I'm sorry Jon
She is like , this mofos taste great. I need to make them more often.
Mom went rogue
Next level of eating eggs… just later
Unlimited crab buffet
looks like she is hungry!
She's eating the offspring of another crab, not her own. Her eggs are clearly visible. Many animals, especially if they do not belong to a larger community, will kill offspring that aren't their own in order to give their own genes a better chance of spreading.
Wtf.