A YouTuber from New Zealand uncovers a 12-million-year-old crab from a rock in this fascinating timelapse video.

The impressive clip was created by fossil hunter MamLambo on January 4.

I have had many requests to remove more of the rock from one of the crabs, I decided to do it with this specimen. Removing more of the rock does make it more fragile as will be seen in this video. This prep took 20 hours in total.

00:00 - 01:00 A concretion is found containing a fossil crab. The species is Tumidocarcinus giganteus and it is mid-Miocene so around 12 million years old. A concretion is a natural cement that is formed by calcium carbonate around the crab possibly kickstarted by the decomposition process. The crab was probably buried by an underwater landslide caused by a earthquake, tsunami or some other geological event. You could tell there was a crab inside by the legs sticking out either side and also a part of the claw was visible. It hasn't been on the beach long as it hasn't been rolled around by the waves yet which would have damaged the legs that were sticking out a bit. These crabs lived in deep water, probably 200m or more, so would have lived in a dim, dark environment.

01:01 - 03:34 The ventral (bottom) side of the crab is prepped by using an air scribe, which is like a mini jackhammer. It's pretty much a guess as to whether you are prepping the top or the bottom of the crab. This time it didn't matter as both sides were going to be prepped. The belly is very intricate to prep as it has folds and segments which can blow apart if you are too rough or hasty. B72 paraloid is a consolidant that gets painted on the protect exposed bits of the crab from flaking away. Super glue (CA glue) is also used where a more powerful adhesive is needed.

03:35 - 06:07 The dorsal (top) side of the crab is prepped exposing cracks in the carapace. This could mean that whatever buried the crab was quite a violent event. Some of the cracks are filled in with a mineral called calcite which will glow under UV light.

06:08 - 06:55 Some detail work, smoothing out the scribe marks and using a finer air scribe to get into all the tiny grooves.

06:55 - 07:05 One of the legs breaks off! This does happen when removing as much of the rock as I have in this prep. Luckily, fossils glue back very well and most fossils that are found have some repair work done to them.

07:06 - 07:32 Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue is used to glue the leg back on. This is normal super glue.

07:33 - 07:51 Final coat of B72 to consolidate and strengthen the crab

07:52 - 09:00 The final product. Rotating on a homemade lazy Susan powered by an Arduino.

09:01 - 10:12 Comparing this crab with a less damaged previously prepped crab.

Music is from Bensound.com and is royalty free but requires attribution.