Rocking out with the King of Crabs

Puget Sound King Crabs are one of the most beautiful creatures in the ocean. They look as if Jackson Pollack painted a Sherman Tank. Found from Alaska all the way down the Pacific Coast to California, these armour plated crabs feed on barnacles, urchins, sea stars, and other echinoderms - grabbing and subduing them with their colourful claws, the left claw crushes their prey, while the right cuts and prepares for consumption.

During a dive in the Parksville area of Vancouver Island, Trisha spotted this beautiful Puget Sound King Crab tucking in to a hearty meal of... er, rocks. What?! This is certainly something we've not seen before. Not content with the softer offerings available in the ocean, this chap was picking up rocks, nibbling on them, and then placing them back on the ground. Not small rocks either, but some pretty sizeable chunks demonstrating their strength and agility.   

It's unclear as to why - maybe it was consuming algae or other bacterial mass that had accumulated on the rocks. Or maybe it was a simply taste testing a new aquatic culinary delight!