Woolly crab

Short introduction

The woolly crab is one of the arthropod species you typically see in brackish or fresh water bodies along the shores of the Grey Sea, like rivers, mangroves or swamps, for example the Moiyeli Swamplands.

Appearance, distribution and ecology

Their area of distribution reaches from a few miles inland from the Grey Sea up to the northernmost reaches of the swamplands and even further north along the shores of the Upper Srufahh river in Tarrabaenia. Their carapaces can reach widths of up to 1.7 metres. They have two well developped pincers which they use to break apart food, fight potential attackers or even hunt. The males have got one dominant pincer, mostly their right hand pincer. Woolly crabs are not really woolly. They are rather covered by moss, algae and/or lichen giving them the appearance that lead to their naming. The base colour of their exoskeleton is dark grey, the belly und the underside of the legs being a bit lighter in colour.

Behaviour, cultural role and use

Woolly crabs are omnivorous, feeding on all kinds of plant matter, dead fish, carcasses and fruit. They can also hunt actively and do so quite often. They are ambush predators relying on the growth on their carapaces and legs to camouflage them. When unsuspecting prey comes too close they strike surprisingly fast with their strong pincers. They are not especially good at precisely gripping things but rather deal out a swift strike to destabilise or immobilise the prey item. That's why they only rarely catch fish but rather land animals. They can crack open mollusks and snails but not bones. Sometimes they chase swamp wolves away from their prey as the wolves shy away from fights with these heavily armoured creatures. The wolves later return to eat what the crabs left and crack the bones open and feed on the bone marrow.

Woolly crabs cannot be tamed, domesticated or bonded with. They have very tasty meat though and get hunted by some societies around the Moiyeli Swamplands. In Remia, a city belonging to the Confederation of Tarrabaenia, woolly crabs are rare due to its position on the cooler Paunis river. Thus they get hunted only once a year for a special festival in late summer, the Éppulo grangiús.