Millions of red crabs are causing chaos on Christmas Island in Australia

[Still Waters]

Millions of red crabs are causing disruption on Christmas Island in Australia.

The crustacean invasion has led to road closures and traffic delays as wildlife teams clear them out the way.

The crabs are making their yearly migration from the jungle to the beach on the island, 220 miles south of Indonesia.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-11-18/why-millions-of-red-crabs-are-causing-chaos-on-christmas-island

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

“Chaos” … yes, they’ve never done this before. It’s totally out of the ordinary.

[Jon the frog]

THe most incredible is that the larvae come back to the same island and the crab are not found elsewhere beside cocos island. They can be swept away quite easily being parts of plancton for a couple of weeks. Strange stuff.

[+DanL]

I wonder if they are good to eat? I'm visualizing a HUGE Cajun crab gumbo.

[psyche101]

20 minutes ago, DanL said:

I wonder if they are good to eat? I'm visualizing a HUGE Cajun crab gumbo.

They are pretty small.

[+DanL]

That one in his hand is plenty big enough for gumbo or even just a crab boil.