🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨

The Christmas Island red crab (Gecarcoidea natalis) is a land crab famous for its epic annual mass migration to the sea to spawn.

Christmas Island red crabs are large crabs with bodies measuring 4.6 inches in width. Males tend to be larger than females, with larger claws and a narrower abdomens. They have claws of equal size, unless one has been damaged and has regenerated. The crabs are usually bright red, but orange or purple crabs sometimes occur.

The crabs are omnivorous scavengers. They feed on fruit, seedlings, fallen leaves, flowers, human rubbish, the giant African land snail, and dead animals. They also cannibalize other Christmas Island red crabs.

Christmas Island red crabs reach sexual maturity around 4 and 5 years of age. At the beginning of the rainy season (October to November), the crabs increase activity and travel to the coast for spawning. The timing is linked to the phase of the moon.