Behind the Scenes: "Mountain in the Sea"/"Filming Secrets" (concluded)
SHEEP CRAB
When crabs are younger they molt their shells once a year so that they can. Molting discards a year's worth of wear and tear and anything that became attached to it. After a crab gets on in years they stop molting, as was the case with this particular sheep crab. He is now wearing his last shell, called a "terminal" molt. His dilemma involves the small kelp plant that has started to grow on his back.
The kelp is only a minor inconvenience now, since the crab walks slowly anyway, like an old man strolling the park on a Sunday. The larger problem is that as the kelp continues to grow, it will begin reaching for the light of the surface. As kelp grows it produces gas bladders to keep it upright and growing towards the sun. As the plant gets bigger it will create more and more lift. You get the picture.
The old crab's legs are only so strong and soon the kelp's buoyancy will overtake the crab's ability to hold onto the bottom. It will soon become the first-ever flying crab. His crab friends will say, "The last thing I saw was Fred being taken by the kelp aliens. It was beautiful, he just floated away." Floating along just below the surface, he would be at the mercy of the meandering currents. Over time, the kelp would die and break apart in the warm surface water. No longer the rare, one-of-a-kind, balloon crab, his weight would win out and down he would go. We hope Fred likes his new corner of the kelp forest.
by Mark Conlin, cinematographer
My all time favorite animal is an old sheep crab we found out roaming the brittle star gardens. He just seemed to be wandering slowly, pondering the complexities of crab life. The only problem was that he had a kelp forest growing on his shell.
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