Christmas Island Red Crab

• GeneralEvery year 50 million crabs cross the island together to spawn in the sea.
• Its annual migration is one of the great natural spectacles on the planet: tens of millions of crabs leave their burrows at once as the wet season begins and march to the coast, closing roads and carpeting the ground.
• They do not head for the nearest shore: most make for the island's north-west coast, and they do so in a straight line. The record for a single day is 1,460 metres.
• The moon sets the timetable: egg-laden females release their eggs into the sea on the exact night of the last quarter.
• A radio-tracking census estimated 43.7 million adults on the island.
• Their ecological role is central: they break down leaf litter and disperse seeds. The yellow crazy ant, introduced by accident, has killed between 10 and 15 million of them.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - articulated calcareous exoskeleton (crustacean)

Habitat and environment

Island rainforest and coasts

Sexual maturity

Reaches maturity at four or five years old

Litter / clutch size

Up to 100,000 eggs per female

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecarcoidea_natalis

The pins mark the parks and dive sites where its presence is documented.