JUSTIN GILLIGAN
Hailing from
Australia, Justin is a
photojournalist and
marine scientist. See
more of his work at
justingilligan.comTheMaorioctopuswas
desperatelyattemptingto
blendinwiththeonslaught
ofpreyanimalsandhunt
thematthesametime.
S
T
December 2019 BBC Wildlife 81I
t was a crisp, clear December day,
and Justin was preparing for what
he anticipated would be a relatively
straightforward assignment –
photographing a series of miniature
kelp forests in a shallow stretch of
water known as the Mercury Passage,
near Tasmania’s Maria Island. The
seaweed, which had been painstakingly
transplanted onto concrete blocks in
patches of varying size and density,
was part of a study on thinning – a
consequence of habitat degradation that
is impacting kelp ecosystems across
Australia’s cool seas.
As he snapped away, Justin’s attention
was diverted by the sudden appearance
of a colony of giant spider crabs, which
proceeded to stampede through the
research area in a mob the size of a
football field. During the autumn-winter
moult, these crustaceans are known to
gather in vast numbers in Port Phillip
Bay, Melbourne, hunkering out of sight
beneath wooden jetties while their
new shells harden, before returning
to deeper water. However, the species
had never been documented around
Maria Island before.Seabed smorgasbord
The arrival of the crabs was as much a
surprise for Justin as it was for a Maori
octopus that was quietly patrolling the
sand – an impressive cephalopod that
boasts a tentacle-span of 2m, and that
mercilessly ambushes prey along the
seabed. “The octopus was clearly
excited and started rapidly changing
colour, desperately attempting to blend
in with the onslaught of prey animals
and hunt them at the same time,”
recalls Justin. “The unexpected
appearance of the crabs reinforces
just how little we still know about
Australia’s temperate reef ecosystem,
an important, highly productive habitat
that we need to acknowledge as much
as we do our coral reefs.”Today’sspecial:
crabsurprise
byJUSTINGILLIGAN 2016
Behind
the
imageWhen Justin suited up to photograph a
kelp experiment o Tasmania, he came
away with more than just seaweed.