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| Attempted mate guarding |
When crabs mate, the male (in this case, the little guy on the bottom) grabs his chosen female and holds on until she is ready. But they have to arrange themselves abdominal plate to abdominal plate, and Big Mama here is not cooperating.
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| The struggle. She is trying to break his hold; he's trying to move around to her belly. |
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| 9 minutes of wrestling later, she's got her feet back on the ground, and shrugs him off. Bye, chico! |
I was too late with the camera to capture a successful mating a couple of weeks ago. Both my male green shore crabs are tiny; both females are twice their size, but it doesn't seem to matter, as long as the male is mature.
I checked this morning. Both females are in berry. That explains her reluctance this time; he misjudged his cues.
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