The scientists realized then that when the crabs danced, they were farming the bacteria clinging to their bristles. Waving their claws back and forth ensured water with fresh oxygen and sulfides would bathe them, nourishing the bacterial meadow. The crabs were farming their own food at the bottom of the seafloor, miles from the sun. Wouldn’t dancing all day and all night make any creature, crustacean or not, tired? But according to researchers, dancing doesn’t exhaust the crabs. After all, they wouldn’t dance unless it gave them energy.
