Their first pair of legs, their pincers, are used mainly for catching food, for fighting with invaders, or for waving menacingly at intruders. They can give a painful nip, so be careful. It does not go hunting for its food. Once food is caught in the pincers it is tom up, pushed into its mouth to be ground up and separated by a filter system that lets only fine pieces pass through to the small stomach to be digested. Anything left goes down the long thin intestine and out through the anus under its tail.
Large trout love koura and so do shags.
Reproduction Female koura produce eggs between April and December, and most in May and June. She carries the berry-like eggs, between 20 to 200, under the side flaps of her abdomen, when she is said to be 'in berry'. Small koura hatch about 3 to 4 months later, looking exactly like their parents in miniature. They cling to their mothers with their pincers until they are nearly 4 mm long, around December of their first year. By their fourth year they are 20 mm long and become adults.