Yeah...well...whatever he said...DON'T say that to a shrimp...ever
I wish I had gotten it on video...
The shrimp would carry the hermit up on top of a ledge and then reach in and grab it's claws...or something grabbable...and then started to shake the hermit rapidly up and down over the ledge...trying to use the weight of the shell to shake it off him.
He had to do this for probably 20 min, that I was watching. (I came into it already in progress)
I know the crab was alive, because once it extended its legs and tried to get away. This, of course aggravated the shrimp to even higher levels of brutality.
Eventually the crab must have been exhausted, the shell fell, and the shrimp started tearing at its thorax (?) with its claws.
It's all the circle of life, I know. Still--it's sad to see it happen--especially instigated by such a supposedly peaceful and benign creature. But I guess an animal that eats it's own young, isn't going to have much remorse about eating a total stranger.
You just never know what's going to happen next in a reef. Couldn't imaging going back to just fish at this point...the reef is sooo much more...
Anyway...happy reefing all!
