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Submitted: April 18, 2010
Image Size: 261 KB
Resolution: 950×622

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Coconut Crab - Birgus Latroby *Abiogenisis

Digital Art / Drawings / Animals

An illustration of the largest living land arthropod - Birgus Latro, or the Coconut Crab, which has adapted to live entirely on land.

The creature inhabits various tropical islands which it reaches as larvae carried there on the currents. On arriving it reveals its ancestral nature as a hermit crab, surviving predators by living in a series of ever larger shells. Eventually it outgrows all shells, but is so massive it no longer needs one.

Able to breathe the humid tropical air, they move about the islands eating fruits, carrion, and any live creatures small or slow enough to be captured and consumed.

Although they drown if submerged, the females must eventually carry their eggs, bundled under the abdomen, to the ocean. Here they release them on the high tide, where the larvae are released to join the plankton. With luck they may find a new, perhaps very distant island.

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~Enimael Aug 26, 2012 Student Digital Artist

i really like coconut crabs, and then you executed that study (if it is one) so well, it is really awesome. do you maybe talk about your rendering style somewhere? would be really interesting to know how you work.

Cheers,
Flo