The Coconut Crab (Birgus latro)
by Arkive staff
The enormous Coconut crab (up to 4.1 kg/9 lb) is almost entirely terrestrial and has adapted so well to living on land that it actually drowns in water. That said, it does still breathe through modified gills. The gills are surrounded by spongy tissues which need to be kept moist. The coconut crab does this by dipping its legs into water and passing them over the gills. The crab does require some contact with the sea as it often drinks the water to maintain its salt balance, and females need to return to sea to release eggs.
By day the coconut crab inhabits burrows where it is protected from desiccation and intruders, and by night it goes in search of food. As its name suggests this crab feeds on coconuts, and is actually able to climb coconut palms, where it is thought to pinch off coconuts with its powerful claws when coconuts are not already available on the ground. If the coconut does not break open on its fall, the crab husks the coconuts by pulling back the husk from the end that was formerly attached to the palm, and evidence indicates that they then pierce the “soft eye” with a pointed walking leg, before gradually enlarging the hole by breaking off sections of the shell until they can reach in to scoop out the flesh…
(read more: EOL)
(image: T - WJ Chen at the WoRMS; BL - by FearlessRich; BM - by Brocken Inaglory; BR - Micaelalah)
