A fossilised crab is rescued from the 'natural cement' that has encased it for millions of years, by a keen fossil hunter.

The creature is from the Eocene period, around 35-million-years-ago.

A time-lapse video shoes the fossil hunter using an air scribe tool to carve the crab from the natural cement, called a concretion, which surrounds it.

The job took around 6 hours, despite stopping as the crab was very fragile and the man didn't want to risk the delicate claws breaking.

The video is a time-lapse of me prepping a fossil crab from the Eocene period, around 35-million-years-ago. The crab is encased in a natural cement called a concretion and I use an air scribe to remove the rock bit by bit.

I am giving away this crab on my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ikg2OBYICM. Entries close 2 Nov at midday NZST.

The prep took around 6 hours to complete and I stopped as the crab was very fragile and I didn't want to risk the delicate claws breaking. You can totally remove the crab from the rock, but I prefer keeping them in the rock.

I use a consolidant, paraloid B72, to strengthen the crab which is what gives it that sheen halfway through the video. This can be reversed afterwards to keep the fossil in the state it was found.