Recently found on Sentinel Island by a German scientist, at the cost of a finger, is the robber crab. The Government Fisheries Department Exhibition at Port Blair, Andaman Islands, has had a display board description of the robber crab that claims: ‘Dangerous to coconut plantations. Climbs coconut trees. Plucks ripe fruit. Breaks open the shell with its formidable claws. Drinks the sweet water and eats the coconut flesh.’ Others, however, have questioned that this crab actually does all of this. While acknowledging that the crab climbs trees, critics say it only opens and eats damaged coconuts already on the ground.

[Picture on page 24]

This tree-​climbing crab eats coconuts