Sally Lightfoot Crab

The contrast between the red of the Sally Lightfoot crab and the Galapagos lava rock is breathtaking, particularly when there are many crabs running around on the rocks as the tide comes in. The name Sally Lightfoot crab comes from the fact that they seem to walk on their tip toes and move extremely fast.  They are almost impossible to catch and it is as if they anticipate the direction from which the hunter comes.  Fortunately they are also not very tasty and thus are only used for bait.

The Sally Lightfoot crabs were amongst the species collected by Darwin on his voyage on the Beagle to the Galapagos Islands.  Most of Darwin’s theories on evolution came from the species he collected and observed on the Galapagos Islands

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