Soldier Crabs

You will not see the blue crabs
When the tide is high
They are hiding in their burrows
Safe from fishy eyes

 And even when the tide is low
There still are hungry spies
And the blue crabs in their borrows
Avoid the sea-birds eyes

But sometimes if you’re  lucky
When the tide is on the ebb
You may see the blue crab army
Emerging from their beds

They march across the mud flats
Grazing as they go
Before retreating to their borrows
Before the tide is low

The behaviour of the blue Soldier Crabs of Coochiemudlo Island in many ways mirrors that of the human inhabitants of the island. For most of the time both are snug inside their houses and the streets and sandy mudflats are still and quiet.  But at set times both groups emerge from their homes to forage before retreating to the safety of their houses. For the human inhabitants the sound of the barge is the signal to emerge and go shopping. For the crabs it is ebbing of the tide.

The sight of the blue crab army emerging from their burrows on the ebb tide is truly amazing. The grey sandy mudflats transform to glittering blue as the soldier crabs march across the mudflats grazing on the algae scum and leaving behind small balls of sandy waste. They feed quickly ever alert for avian predators before retreating to their burrows before the bird tom-tom triggers the arrival of  all kinds of hungry birds looking for a feed of crab. And there they remain through the tidal change until the next ebb tide.