Calappa !

Yesterday we checked out the low tide and look what we found - Calappa hepatica! Often called the box crab or the shame faced crab, for the flat broad claws covering its "face". See the bigger claw on the left? Box crabs use that like a can opener to "peel open" the snails that it eats. Yum yumm. Found it buried in the sand in the intertidal. If it hadn't moved, we'd never've seen it.