Thousands of tiny crabs wash up on Vabbinfaru shores, die in minutes

On Friday night, a large number of small crabs washed up on K. Vabbinfaru resort's shoes. The crabs, which were likely in the million, washed up on the shore and died. This has never been seen in the island before, according to some people working in the island, which operates as a resort.

This incident is accompanied by a series of questions: what kind of crabs are they? Where did they come from? Why did so much of them wash up on the island at the same time? Is this a sign that something is going wrong?

Environmentalists working in Vabbinfaru are now collecting data to answer these questions and trying to find out the reasons behind this unusual occurrence. However, the information that can be given by the resort so far is that it is believed that a lot of cabs were found dead.

"It's an unusual phenomenon," said Mohamed Ahmed Shiham, Director for Science in the Maldives at the International Pole and Line Foundation.

"Usually, this kind of crab larvae does not wash up on the shores of the islands."

Shiham, who previously served as Director General of the Maldives Marine Research Institute (MMRI), suggested that this could have been due to differences in primary productivity or food production.

"These days the air is warmer than usual. Therefore, naturally, the chances of that primary productivity spreading out may be reduced," Shiham pointed out.

Shiham suggests that the presence and accumulation of large amounts of food in any one area may have contributed to the increase in the population of crab larvae in that location. He speculates that a lot of crabs gathered in its planktonic phase and somehow reached the shores of a local island in Maldives. The way food is produced in the ocean, how it circulates, and the changes in weather, moisture, and wind had contributed to this phenomenon, he believes.

Under normal circumstances, Shiham pointed out that if the wind and air flow was normal, the food produced in the ocean and the small creatures that accumulate to feed on them would be spread out through the ocean. However, because of the current, all the tiny living creatures converges in the same place as well.

It is believed that with the flowing current, the crab larvae hand washed ashore on Vabbinfaru. Some other islands near the island may also have some of these on their shores, he said. 

So far, neither Shiham nor Atoll Times has received such information.

"Then, Vabbinfaru, unlike other islands, does not have a vast lagoon area. Since it is located in the middle of Male atoll, the chances of them [crabs] reaching the island are high," Shiham pointed out.

While it is not clear what type of crab it is exactly, Shiham suggests that under normal circumstances, such crabs can be found habituating in outer parts of the country. He believes that in the planktonic phase, if the crabs wash up ashore in lesser numbers in the islands, it can grow, dig holes and live there.

"But this time it was washed up in thousands or millions," Shiham said.

"So, I believe that these things are just signs of climate change in the world."

However, since these are all speculations, Shiham did add there is a possibility that it could be a "random event".