The Ecological Phenomenon Of Red Crab Mating Season Migration That Makes Traffic Congested Only On Christmas Island

Christmas Island authorities build a 'bridge' for red crab migration. (Source: Parks Australia/Wondrous World Images)

JAKARTA - Millions of red crabs slithered across Australia's Christmas Island on Tuesday, part of their annual migrating trip to the sea on the island off the coast of Western Australia.

"This year's migration has been absolutely incredible," said Christmas Island National Park natural resources manager Brendan Tiernan, citing Reuters on Nov. 23.

"The streets are full of red crabs. It causes traffic jams on this small island. People have to get out of their cars and get rid of them," he continued.

Tiernan said the ecological phenomenon of crabs migrating to the sea to lay eggs does not occur anywhere else in the world on such a scale.

"Sometimes we call it red crab island, the island's people recognize how important red crab is for our ecosystem and for our economy, for tourism," he explained.

After mating, the male crabs will travel back to the forest while the female stays in the burrow for about two weeks to lay her eggs. Each female can lay up to 100,000 eggs, which she will deposit into the sea.

"Some people are quite frightened by the fact they are surrounded by millions of crawling arthropods, whereas others are just drowning basically doing a little 'red crab angel', they will lie on the ground and let themselves be covered in red crabs," Tiernan said.

To note, the unique Christmas Island red crab is only on this island and is protected by Australian law.