If you’ve ever watched a crab dart across a beach, you’ve probably noticed something strange - that they almost never walk forward. 

Instead, they scuttle sideways with surprising speed and agility, a movement so iconic it has practically become the defining feature of crabs themselves. 

Now, scientists have published in the journal eLife that they believe they know where this unusual walk came from.  

Researchers studying crab movement discovered that sideways walking likely evolved only once in the history of “true crabs,” a group known scientifically as Brachyura.  

That’s remarkable because in evolution, useful traits often appear independently many times. Wings evolved separately in birds, bats, and insects. Streamlined body shapes evolved in dolphins and sharks despite them not being closely related. 

But sideways walking? Scientists think crabs only invented it once, and then stuck with it.

The researchers studied how 50 different crab species moved, filming them individually in specially designed arenas that mimicked their natural environments. When they mapped those movements onto the crab family tree, a striking pattern appeared - most modern crabs inherited their sideways movement from one ancient ancestor.  

At first glance, walking sideways seems awkward. 

But for crabs, it may actually be a survival superpower. 

Crabs have wide, flattened bodies with legs that naturally extend outward. Moving sideways allows them to move faster and more efficiently without constantly twisting their bodies. 

A sideways-moving crab can rapidly dart left or right in unpredictable bursts, making it harder for predators to anticipate where it will go next.  

Today there are nearly 8,000 known species of true crabs living in environments ranging from deep oceans to rivers, forests, and even land.  

The scientists believe this evolutionary shift happened shortly after one of Earth’s major extinction events: the Triassic–Jurassic extinction around 200 million years ago.  

At that time, the world was changing dramatically and nature was opening up entirely new ecological opportunities. Crabs may have arrived with the perfect new adaptation at exactly the right moment. 

Scientists often talk about “carcinization” the repeated evolution of crab-like body shapes across different crustacean groups. Oddly enough, becoming crab-shaped has happened multiple times in evolutionary history. 

But sideways walking appears to have been much rarer.  

That suggests some behaviours are surprisingly difficult to evolve, even if they turn out to be highly successful once they appear. 

It’s easy to dismiss a crab’s sideways scuttle as just a quirky detail of nature. 

But this study suggests it may have been one of the most important movement innovations in marine evolution. 

A single change in how an animal moved may have helped crabs spread across the planet, adapt to countless environments, and become one of the most successful groups of crustaceans on Earth. 

LISTEN ABOVE

If you’ve ever watched a crab dart across a beach, you’ve probably noticed something strange - that they almost never walk forward.&nbsp;
Instead, they scuttle sideways with surprising speed and agility, a movement so iconic it has practically become the defining feature of crabs themselves.&nbsp;
Now, scientists have published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/110015v1">eLife</a> that they believe they know where this unusual walk came from. &nbsp;
Researchers studying crab movement discovered that sideways walking likely evolved only once in the history of “true crabs,” a group known scientifically as Brachyura. &nbsp;
That’s remarkable because in evolution, useful traits often appear independently many times. Wings evolved separately in birds, bats, and insects. Streamlined body shapes evolved in dolphins and sharks despite them not being closely related.&nbsp;
But sideways walking? Scientists think crabs only invented it once, and then stuck with it.
The researchers studied how 50 different crab species moved, filming them individually in specially designed arenas that mimicked their natural environments. When they mapped those movements onto the crab family tree, a striking pattern appeared - most modern crabs inherited their sideways movement from one ancient ancestor. &nbsp;
At first glance, walking sideways seems awkward.&nbsp;
But for crabs, it may actually be a survival superpower.&nbsp;
Crabs have wide, flattened bodies with legs that naturally extend outward. Moving sideways allows them to move faster and more efficiently without constantly twisting their bodies.&nbsp;
A sideways-moving crab can rapidly dart left or right in unpredictable bursts, making it harder for predators to anticipate where it will go next. &nbsp;
Today there are nearly 8,000 known species of true crabs living in environments ranging from deep oceans to rivers, forests, and even land. &nbsp;
The scientists believe this evolutionary shift happened shortly after one of Earth’s major extinction events: the Triassic–Jurassic extinction around 200 million years ago. &nbsp;
At that time, the world was changing dramatically and nature was opening up entirely new ecological opportunities. Crabs may have arrived with the perfect new adaptation at exactly the right moment.&nbsp;
Scientists often talk about “carcinization” the repeated evolution of crab-like body shapes across different crustacean groups. Oddly enough, becoming crab-shaped has happened multiple times in evolutionary history.&nbsp;
But sideways walking appears to have been much rarer. &nbsp;
That suggests some behaviours are surprisingly difficult to evolve, even if they turn out to be highly successful once they appear.&nbsp;
It’s easy to dismiss a crab’s sideways scuttle as just a quirky detail of nature.&nbsp;
But this study suggests it may have been one of the most important movement innovations in marine evolution.&nbsp;
A single change in how an animal moved may have helped crabs spread across the planet, adapt to countless environments, and become one of the most successful groups of crustaceans on Earth.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

News, opinion, analysis, lifestyle and entertainment – we’ve got your Sunday morning listening covered with The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin on Newstalk ZB.

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Dr Michelle Dickinson: nanotechnologist on the research revealing why crabs walk sideways

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/7c011672-ba22-4d8f-b504-b44d00021453/transcript