Stingray Ambushes Army Of Crabs | Blue Planet II | BBC Earth

the struggle to survive in our green seas can have far-reaching consequences once a year one particular meadow in australia is transformed around the first full moon of winter an army materializes spider crabs for the past year they've been feeding in deeper waters now they march across the seagrass plains [Music] hundreds of thousands of them [Music] they clamber over one another creating great mounds [Music] nearly a hundred meters long they're not seeking mates neither are they laying eggs they have come here in order to grow like all crabs their bodies are enclosed in a hard unexpandable shell so to grow they have to break out of it and that allows a soft one that has developed belief to expand it will take days for the new shell to harden its legs are so limp that they won't work properly the crab is unprotected and in great danger a smooth stingray it's huge about four meters long it wants a soft freshly molted crab that will be easier to eat the crabs tried to stick together but now disturbed by the ray they're scattering a newly moated crab is too weak to keep up with the crowd the safest place is right in the middle of the pile that is why they have all assembled here there is safety in numbers but the vast majority of the crabs escape and within the next few days they will be ready to return to the depths and resume their lonely wanderings in search of food this is no graveyard but the triumph of a hundred thousand crabs successfully molted [Music] you

Channel: BBC Earth

Views: 5,535,558

Keywords: bbc documentary, bbc, bbcearth, bbc earth, smooth stingray, spider crabs vs stingray, spider crabs shed their shells, spider crabs molting, blue planet 2, blue planet 2 stingray, blue planet spider crabs, blue planet stingrays, david attenborough, sir david attenborough, blue planet ii theme

Id: 0e4qRdlfJcs

Length: 6min 10sec (370 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 29 2021