Red Crab At The BP Oil Leak Site

I had not viewed the BP web site at
http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=9034366&contentId=7063636
for a few days so last night before I put the computer to sleep I decided to have a look.

Usually all I see are different views of the robot equipment looking over the sealed vent checking for leaks. They also check over sections of the sea floor to see if any oil is seeping out from any fissures in the sea floor. After all the pressure is very high what with the ocean floor pushing down on the dome of oil and if there is a weak spot in the sea floor the oil will find its way out.

With the screen full of all the views my eyes were instantly drawn to a red odd-shaped thing that occupied the full screen view from the feed labeled Boa Deep C – ROV 1. The crew controlling the robot had locked onto a red crab foraging on the ocean floor. How long they had been viewing I hardly know but do know I was as fascinated as they were.

My search to try to determine what type of crab it is was inconclusive as the screen capture is not clear enough to be much value in providing comparison during my search.  Here's a screen shot of the critter: