{"id":413579,"date":"2026-01-16T17:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/413579\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T17:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:32:13","slug":"christmas-island-welcomes-twice-in-a-decade-return-of-millions-of-baby-red-crabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/413579\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Island welcomes ‘twice-in-a-decade’ return of millions of baby red crabs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sight of a massive, semi-translucent red carpet marching from the sea has Christmas Island residents breathing sighs of relief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The remote territory, located in the Indian Ocean 2,600 kilometres north-west of Perth, is welcoming its final return of baby red crabs for the wet season.<\/p>\n

It concludes what is thought to be one of the largest annual crab migrations<\/a> in years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/p>\n

The decade-high spawn has delighted and disrupted islanders. (Supplied: Brendan Tiernan)<\/p>\n

“Seeing such encouraging numbers is definitely an excellent sign that, maybe, we’re seeing that one of those twice-a-decade events,” said Alexia Jankowski, acting manager of Christmas Island National Park.<\/p>\n

“It’s almost impossible to estimate the number; I’d say millions of babies.”\"A<\/p>\n

It will take four to five years for these crabs to reach adulthood. (Supplied: Brendan Tiernan)<\/p>\n

In late October, about 100 million crabs departed the dense jungle for the ocean, where they laid their eggs.<\/p>\n

The mass exodus is a well-documented and much-celebrated<\/a> phenomenon, attracting spectators from all over the world.<\/p>\n

Lesser known is the emergence of tiny megalopae months later: the hatchlings that make their way back to shore before digging fresh forest burrows inland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most years see few survive the perilous return journey.<\/p>\n

“Last year, we didn’t see very many babies at all,” Ms Jankowski said.<\/p>\n

“If the swell or the currents don’t align … they might all just get washed out to sea.”<\/p>\n

\"Baby<\/p>\n

Millions of baby crabs make the return journey. (Supplied: Chris Bray)<\/p>\n

Front-row seat<\/p>\n

Resident Monique Greyson lives in Flying Fish Cove, one of Christmas Island’s coastal settlements and its main port.<\/p>\n

Her beachside home has provided a front-row seat for the spectacle.<\/p>\n

“We often go out onto our balcony and just watch the crabs, and watch all the people watching the crabs,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s just a carpet of red.”\"A<\/p>\n

Red crabs are a “keystone” species for Christmas Island’s unique ecosystem. (Supplied: Brendan Tiernan)<\/p>\n

Ms Greyson said the recent tide of baby crabs stood out among the many she had witnessed since childhood.<\/p>\n

“Some years it’s definitely smaller than others; this year was not a small year.<\/p>\n

“The amount of crabs going down to the water, and the amount of baby crabs coming back has been huge … there are just so many crabs.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Christmas Island’s red crabs have developed a special ecological role over millions of years. (ABC Pilbara: Alistair Bates)<\/p>\n

But the closing chapter of this year’s migration does bring some solace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Even though we live on the second floor, we still get crabs in our house,” Ms Greyson said.<\/p>\n

“You see them in the toilets sometimes … and trying to get to work can definitely be tricky, because you don’t want to run over any of the crabs.”<\/p>\n

In particular, the odour that accompanies the crustaceans will not be missed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The smell can be really overwhelming, which is what I think a lot of people don’t think about,” she said.’Keystone species’<\/p>\n

Ms Jankowski said Parks Australia staff were doing all they could to shepherd the baby crabs to safety, often employing leaf blowers to push them off local roads.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Alexia Jankowski is the acting manager at Christmas Island National Park. (ABC Pilbara: Mietta Adams)<\/p>\n

“They’ve got to make their way up these huge sea cliffs that are, some of them, about 80 metres high,” she said.<\/p>\n

“In human terms, it’s the equivalent of climbing about 100 kilometres uphill, just to get up into the forest.”<\/p>\n

Once they reach their destination, it will take four to five years for the crabs to reach adulthood.<\/p>\n

From there, they commute back to the coast to begin laying eggs of their own.<\/p>\n

\"Tiny,<\/p>\n

The hatchlings measure just a few millimetres across. (Supplied: Brendan Tiernan)<\/p>\n

It is a critical process for the “keystone species”<\/a>, which recycles nutrients on the forest floor and keeps the lower canopy clear for birds.<\/p>\n

“The island has evolved over many millions of years with these crabs in this structure and ecosystem,” Ms Jankowski said.<\/p>\n

“It wouldn’t be functioning the same if it didn’t have their input.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sight of a massive, semi-translucent red carpet marching from the sea has Christmas Island residents breathing sighs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,173905,173903,173899,173904,173901,173902,173900,173906,119092,66,18537,323],"class_list":["post-413579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-christmas-island-attractions","tag-christmas-island-crabs","tag-christmas-island-flights","tag-christmas-island-red-crab","tag-crab-migration","tag-crab-swarm","tag-indian-ocean-territories","tag-pilbara-news","tag-red-crabs","tag-science","tag-wa-news","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}