On every dive in St. Lucia, one of these are a must to see. They resemble a what we call “daddy long legs” spider. Most even describe it as “the spider looking creature.” However a spider is far from what this odd ball is. These are called Yellowline arrowhead crabs. They are so common, you could choose where you take a photo of one!
Options options is what you have when it comes to photography of this crab. The yellowline arrow crab’s diet consists of small feather duster worms and also other small coral reef invertebrates. The male, during mating, holds a female arrow crab close to him, depositing a sperm packet into the female. The female yellowline arrow crab then carries the fertilised eggs under her abdomen. When they are ready to hatch. Once hatched, these newly hatched crabs are called zoeas.
The zoeas generate new skin each time, to facilitate for their body growth, until the crab enters a phase call megalops, where the crab emerges from the molt. During this time, the limps and features of the crab begins to form, although the abdomen has not folded up as yet. These young ones will continue to molt until reaching full adult stage. Arrowhead Crabs can get aggressive when they are threatened. Even the male hooks on to the female and pulls her away from danger when carrying eggs. He then will defend them both.