• TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    How can this happen, if they all came with shells to begin with, and they can each only take one shell? Do they somehow end up with one crab too big for the remaining shell?

    • ElJefe@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Because it’s usually two large crabs duking it out for the larger shell. When one of them inevitably loses, all the other crabs that are lined up, by size, no less, immediately ditch their shells for the next size up. Leaving behind the smallest shell for a large crab. I got to see this first hand at a beach in Mexico when I was a kid. I had no clue what was going on with all these crabs lined up from large to small, it was so cool to watch. But sad too.

    • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      It’s not always a perfect lineup and you can get two fighting for a shell (not necessarily the largest), and they can’t go back to their old shell because it’s now taken.