One from the archive! A coconut crab

[Ian]

One from the archives! More closely related to hermit crabs than conventional crabs, this is a large land-lubbing crustacean that is relatively common throughout the pacific, known for dining on coconut flesh and climbing palm trees. This was taken in 2000 on the island of Himocilan, Leyte, Philippines.

Taken using a 2.5 megapixel Olympus C-2500L fixed-lens DSLR.

Ian

[OlyPaul]

I think this is a great image Ian, I love the story it tells in close up and the detail of the skin in the weathered hands is wonderful, and all from old technology which goes to show that the most important specification of a camera is the operator.

[John Perriment]

Yes, it's great that the hands were included, it puts the subject in context and is so much more meaningful than just a still life shot of the crab.

[Barr1e]

Ooh - a crunchy Bounty Bar.

I once had a low mp camera which took great pix just like this one.

Regards. Barr1e

[Pops]

Never seen one before. Surprised at the size of it

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Pops

Never seen one before. Surprised at the size of it

Nice to see you back, Pops! Hope that back of yours improves speedily

We saw the coconut crab back in 2001 on a trip back to the Philippines, where my mother comes from. Himocilan island is one of the larger islands near my mum's home village on Leyte. We were offered the coconut crabs to eat, but we thought they might be rare and asked that they be released (there were a couple of them).

I have since discovered that they are found all around the Pacific, although not exactly common, they are not, as far as I know, endangered. But they are really amazing to see,

Ian

[Pops]

Originally Posted by Ian

Nice to see you back, Pops! Hope that back of yours improves speedily

We saw the coconut crab back in 2001 on a trip back to the Philippines, where my mother comes from. Himocilan island is one of the larger islands near my mum's home village on Leyte. We were offered the coconut crabs to eat, but we thought they might be rare and asked that they be released (there were a couple of them).

I have since discovered that they are found all around the Pacific, although not exactly common, they are not, as far as I know, endangered. But they are really amazing to see,

Ian

Well on the mend now thanks.

[yoshi]

a mutant flea that lives on the skin of godzilla ... an explanation I would have believed

never seen, never heard of it, although the Pacific ocean is just the sea over there.

yoshi

[Ian]

Hi Yoshi - I guess the coconut crab (also known as the robber crab) prefers tropical parts of the Pacific

Ian