The Lone Soldier

I am posting a bit early today because I have a busy afternoon and we are out for dinner this evening too.

While I was walking along the foreshore taking the photo of yesterday's baby mangrove, I spotted a few soldier crabs. Nowhere near as many as were at Soldiers Point the previous week, but I did manage to get a close up of this soldier crab as he was just emerging from the hole underground.

I don't know who was more surprised the crab or me, but luckily, I did get one shot before he scampered off at great speed.

I also noticed that the crabs here are slightly larger than the ones at Soldiers Point too which was lucky from a photography point of view. Maybe the food is better at this beach.

This one is about 25 mm or 1 inch in size

[Milanie]

What a terrific clean shot of this crab - not sure I've seen one with that blue before

[Dawn]

A cool shot of this crab and it’s colour is amazing fav

[Maggiemae]

That's quite small - not even a mouthful! Dear wee crab with its blue shell!

[eDorre]

Great catch and details

[Valerie Chesney]

Great close up ..They can be "gone" in an instant.

[Diana]

what a great close up, they are rather beautiful!

[*lynn]

Delightful creature!

[Kathy A]

He’s a lovely colour

[KoalaGardens🐨]

memories of childhood for me

[Yao RL]

Beautiful creature,.

[MONTSERRAT]

Waouh quel joli crabe j'aime ça couleur

[Issi Bannerman]

Oh, well captured!

[Dianne]

A great image and such a neat colour.

[Gosia]

Colorful

[Beryl Lloyd]

A superb close-up, great detail and colour!

[Susan Wakely]

A lovely colour and closeup.

[Newbank Lass]

so blue

[John Falconer]

Well captured.

[Wylie]

good one!

[Kathy]

Nice details of shapes, textures and colors.

[Peter Dulis]

wonderful little creature :)

[Merrelyn]

They're a pretty blue.

[Kate]

Great closeup

[mittens (Marilyn)]

Great details in this.

[Dione Giorgio]

Has lovely colours too. Great close up shot.

[Margaret Brown]

Love the colours and capture

[bkb in the city]

Great capture

[Casablanca]

He's running away! What super colour to that shell

[carol white]

Great capture.Fav😊

[Pat Knowles]

The soldier crabs are a beautiful blue…wonder if they have them in NZ….I have never seen any. Must Google them.

[Pam]

Amazing shot of this tiny crab!

[Granagringa]

Startling color agains the sand!

[Ingrid]

Super shot!

[Babs]

@happypat I don't think they are in New Zealand. We see them all around Australia and I believe they are in Singapore and New Caledonia too. They are fascinating to watch

[Tunia McClure]

an interesting creature

[Islandgirl]

Neat looking crab!

[Ann H. LeFevre]

Love his colors! Now I'm imagining the former beach full of all this color. Good catch!

[Babs]

@milaniet @Dawn @maggiemae @edorreandresen @ludwigsdiana @lynnz @kjarn @koalagardens @yaorenliu @montserrat @jamibann @dide @gosia @beryl @wakelys @newbank @johnfalconer @pusspup @randystreat @pdulis @merrelyn @k9photo @mittens @sangwann @craftymeg @bkbinthecity @casablanca @carolmw @pamalama @granagringa @ingrid01 @tunia @radiogirl @olivetreeann Thanks, there weren't as many soldier crabs on this beach as there were at Soldiers Point so I was lucky to get close and capture this chap before he raced off again.

@happysnaps Yes, he did move pretty quick.

[haskar]

Great catch and lovely details.

[Peter]

Lovely closeup detail and colours Babs:)