Millions of zombie crabs invade beach and shock locals after population boom

dailystar.co.uk:

zombie crabs have taken over a road in massive swarms following a population boom.The odd looking creatures reportedly shocked local residents as they set off on a journey in early hours of Thursday morning (24 March).After two years of Covid, the crabs stature and numbers have grown an incredible amount as they were able to safely cross usually trafficked roadways in the Bay of Pigs, Cuba.When spring rains began to fall on the island, millions of the snappy creatures emerged from their resting spots in the morning and marched across the road and down to the sea, The Sun reported.The mass migration happens due to the females needing to return to sea to hatch their eggs where the larvae live as plankton.Angel Iraola, a security guard for a car park which has been rife with crabs, said: "There was very little traffic, and very little tourism."There are more crabs now than there have been in many years."The crustaceans get their "zombie crab" name due to them being the host organism for two species of flies who gain nutrients, shelter and movement from inside the crab.Flies who occupy the crabs live in them for most of their lives – laying eggs in the crab's eyes where the larvae migrate into their host and live there.As time goes on the larvae will move towards the crab's mouthparts before falling to the ground to grow into fully grown flies.Many of the crabs sadly die from being crushed by cars in the years before Covid.For more incredible stories from the Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here In the UK, giant 6ft king crabs from Russia are invading waters and sparking fears for native species.As threatening as the two stone beasts are to scallops and brown crabs, fisherman admit they will make.