Batwing Coral Crab vs Spanish Lobster

Talk about crabby!  Mary spotted a creature and shined her light into the recess of a coral mound.  Suddenly sand came shooting out of the crevice and Mary motioned me over to have a look.  A batwing coral crab and Spanish lobster were having a very lively disagreement over something.  Just a quickly as it started it was over.  The obvious winner was the batwing coral crab who set about cleaning up after the altercation.  The Spanish lobster moved up the coral mound and, if he had had lips, I am sure he would have been pouting.

Both the Spanish lobster and batwing coral crab generally hide during the day and forage for food at night.  We have observed that a lot of critters considered to be nocturnal are seen more frequently during the day. 

I moved in with my camera to get a photograph of the coral crab and the brave little fellow stood his ground.  He was not going to yield to the Spanish lobster nor me.  He seemed totally unaffected by my presence which I also consider an unusual response given their shy nature and proclivity to retreat when confronted.

The batwing coral crab is truly a beautify crustacean with a carapace of red dotted with white spots and those haunting eyes of yellow and red.  Also called a "coral crab, "red coral crab" or "queen crab" it is being over-harvested and becoming harder to find in many parts of the Caribbean.



Batwing Coral Crab cleaning up after his altercation with the Spanish Lobster.  Notice the tail of the Spanish Lobster in the top right of the video.