Cannibal Crab

The bizarre Cannibal Crab.

Massive arthroderms native to a few shallow reefs, Cannibal Crabs are some of Elonios's most gruesome inhabitants for obvious reasons. They derive their name from their grisly habit of consuming their own siblings, ensuring only the largest, fiercest individuals make it out of the nest.

Cannibal Crabs only vaguely resemble Earth crustaceans. Their leg-spans are 5-6 meters on average, even wider in old individuals, and they lack pincers, instead having four walking legs tipped in fleshy suckers. Their third pair of legs are smaller and tipped with keratinous paddles and small cilia. They use these to (a) dig nests and (b) dig for food. They are also their secondary means of defense. If predators are not deterred by their size, strange colors, and the noxious liquids they secrete from glands behind their head, the Cannibal Crab can deliver powerful, bone-breaking kicks with its paddled hind limbs.

They are generally a brownish-grey in color, adorned with a multitude of small white stripes and spots. Their head is large and heavily armored, with strange keratinous projections designed to deter attackers. Their jaws are a pair of vertically-oriented keratinous plates with which they crush and grind food, these are unique as most arthroderms have beak-like jaws. Their eyes are small and situated on long, rubbery stalks that move much like those of a slug, and they have a secondary pair of fleshy antennae that droop below their heads. The primary antennae, though adorned with sensors, are not true antennae, being more of a display organ. When confronting rivals and/or predators, Cannibal Crabs will begin spinning the fleshy, bulbous structures that tip these antennae. The bulbous tips are littered with tiny biolights, these being used to create a bizarre lightshow that stops most aggressors in their tracks. It is believed that they also use these to attract mates, with the male Cannibal Crab, after excavating the nesting burrow, standing beside the entrance and displaying his bright colors to attract a potential mate.

Cannibal Crabs lay several hundred eggs in the nest, which they fiercely guard. The adults do not feed their young however, instead leaving their offspring to consume each other in a brutal fight for survival. After a month or so, only a few dozen young Cannibal Crabs are left alive in the nest. They have grown substantially by then on their protein rich diet and are more than capable of surviving on their own in their shallow, tropical home. Though a brutal system, it ensures that only the largest, strongest crabs survive, these being the ones best equipped to handle the many dangers of Elonios's oceans. Younger crabs tend to be secretive for their first few years of life, however, as they are a common prey item of the Coastal Parrotter.

After leaving their macabre nursery, the crabs spend their days ambling about the reef, grazing on aquatic vegetation and small anelii. They have been documented picking bits of dead skin and parasites off of the larger species like overgrown cleaner shrimp, though smaller anelii are less fortunate and are usually consumed whole, especially the aneliicles which are a favorite among the crabs. They grow fast at first, but after reaching the milestone of 3-meters in width or so their growth slows down considerably. Cannibal Crabs are long-lived creatures, and a lucky individual may last an Earth century or so.