Soldier Crabs, Deep Creek, Valla
The tide is turning in and the army is heading home, marching towards me standing on the shoreline, walking forwards unlike most crabs.
A Black-capped Tern and a Silver Gull wheel overhead tempted and a pelican approached but the regiments remained untroubled by predators.
One juvenile corkscrews into the sand by my shoe but remains visible – a half-hearted attempt.
On the other side, one has quickly disappeared into its cave.
Mictyris longicarpus have lungs, not gills. They sift through large amounts of sand to extract tiny algae and nematode eggs; the inedible material accumulates in sprays of small round pellets.
