Incredible footage showing thousands of migrating giant spider crabs will put you off paddling for life
Underwater video shows the snappy critters piled ten deep as they head for the shallows
Nature is a pretty amazing thing – as this stunning video shows.
Brilliant underwater footage captures the annual migration of hundreds of thousands of giant spider crabs.
The eight-legged critters stack up to ten deep as they clamber into the shallows in Australia’s Port Phillip Bay to shed their shells.
The crawling army of crabs is an incredible sight – even if it will put you off paddling for life.
The footage was posted on YouTube on a channel called .
The subtitles explain: “Every year as the water cools in Port Phillip Bay, Australia, an army of giant spider crabs descend onto the shallows.
“Numbers swell into the hundreds of thousands.
“The aggregation can stretch for hundreds of metres. Crabs can be stacked up to ten deep.
“The reason? Safety in numbers
“Crabs come into the shallows to moult.
“The news skeleton takes time to harden. During that time they are vulnerable to predators.”
The footage ends with a devastating visit from a huge stingray, leaving many of the crabs lying lifeless on the seabed.
The video was posted with the message: “There is getting crabby... but this is just all out ridiculous! We have never seen soooooo many crabs.
“We know some people are going to be freaked out, but us? Hey throw is in there and let them crawl over us (did I mention we were a weird bunch???)”
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The video got a mixed reaction with some calling the footage “awesome” and others seeing a buffet snack.
One asked: “Do they taste any good?”
The Nature of Science replied: “Not really, They haven’t got a lot of meat.”
Another wrote: “Give me geo coordinates, that looks like my family's Christmas lunch before the BBQ.”
Others simply wrote: “Yum!”
But one freaked out watcher was packing away his swimming trunks for good.
Matt K commented: “Now I will never go to the beach in Melbourne again. Thanks mate.”
