The Fiddler Crab: One Part Giant Claw, Two Parts Attitude

[Narrator] So this little crab's like,

Hey, just passing through here, fellas!

And this big crab's like, No, check yourself.

And this other big crab's like,

No, you check yourself.

And the other crab's like, All right, maybe for a second,

but I'm not happy about it.

Such is the life of the fiddler crab.

You may have noticed that the fiddler crab

has kind of a little claw, big claw thing going on.

In fact, the big pincer can be twice

as long as the crab's body is wide,

but it's only the males that wield those mighty claws.

Why?

Well, males have to wave to each other to say hi.

And by hi, I mean they're saying,

I will end you if you don't back off.

Waving also attracts females.

So that's definitely a way to say hi.

When they're not waving at each other, fiddler crabs

are tunneling, and even though they're a bit cranky,

they're actually colonial.

Thousands of fiddler crabs might live and feed together,

which entails shoveling sand in their mouths

and filtering out the organic material.

And waving.

And whatever it is you'd call this.