Two weekends ago I had the joy of introducing Ghost Crabs to a private workshop participant; she marveled, as I always do, at how quickly they scurry and scuttle and how apt their common name is. Even when I am on the lookout for them, they often reveal themselves only in motion, so well are their bodies camouflaged against our coarser grained sands.  This little crab did not let us get as close as the crab I encountered several years ago. Its gift came in less than a second of time, as it lowered its eye stalks to...I could only speculate. Obtain a better focus on the big creatures who were intensely interested in its movements? Communicate a back-off warning?  I called the second image, "Don't Even Think About It!" in an admittedly anthropomorphic interpretation of what would seem in a human expression to be a narrow-eyed squint.

Actually, Ghost Crabs lower and retract their eyestalks into groves on the front of their shells in order to protect them. Less than a second later, the stalks were upright again. Ghost Crabs have 360 degrees of full peripheral vision so perhaps it was trying to get a better look at us.  I'm not sure my own eyes and brain would have registered the movement, fast as a human blink, had I not been looking through the lens. I often return knowing I have more to learn, another of photography's blessings.

September, 2014; Nikon D800; ISO 400, 1/200 sec, f/16, 300mm