A pair of feisty crabs were caught on camera defending their food from a ray ten times their size by pinching its wings.

Andy Burnell, 58, works for the Environment Department in Australia and has a background in biology. He was kayaking off Grange Beach, Adelaide when he dropped a bait basket into the crystal-clear waters.

Amazing footage captured by the 58-year-old shows a male and female blue swimmer crab feasting on some of the fish when a giant Southern Fiddler Ray approached them.

Rather than run away from the huge intruder, the couple stood up to the ray with the male using its pincers to pinch the predator’s wings before eventually chasing it away.

Andy said: “There was a male and female blue swimmer crab at the bait basket when a Southern Fiddler Ray approaches. If you'd asked me what would have happened, I would have said the crabs would bolt, but no. One thing the camera has shown me is how feisty the crabs are. This male crab pinched the ray and fended him off a few times until the ray gave up and swam away".

The filmer also added: “You don't see behavior exactly like this by diving as the animals are aware of and often afraid of the diver. Here they are just doing their thing without a person to interfere. This was an awesome little interaction and I've been surprised so many times filming like this, by different fish, octopus, squid, small sharks, and various rays.
I love the surprise and am never quite sure what I will film. I call it crab.e.cam because crabs are the most common and I started filming on a crab net.
It is low budget, using just a kayak and a GoPro. It’s great fun. I rig my GoPro with a bait basket and drop it from my kayak and see what happens".

A pair of feisty crabs were caught on camera defending their food from a ray 10 times their size by pinching its wings.

Andy Burnell, 58, was kayaking off Grange Beach, Adelaide, Australia, when he dropped a bait basket into the crystal-clear waters.

Amazing footage captured by the 58-year-old shows a male and female blue swimmer crab feasting on some of the fish when a giant Southern Fiddler Ray approached them.

Rather than run away from the huge intruder, the couple stood up to the ray with the male using its pincers to pinch the predator’s wings before eventually chasing it away.

Andy said: “This little video is a great little bit of behaviour. There was a male and female blue swimmer crab at the bait basket when a Southern Fiddler Ray approaches.

“If you'd asked me what would have happened, I would have said the crabs would bolt, but no. One thing the camera has shown me is how feisty the crabs are.

“This male crab pinched the ray and fended him off a few times until the ray gave up and swam away.

“You don't see behaviour exactly like this by diving as the animals are aware of and often afraid of the diver. Here they are just doing their thing without a person to interfere.

“This was an awesome little interaction and I've been surprised so many times filming like this, by different fish, octopus, squid, small sharks and various rays.

“It is low budget, using just a kayak and a GoPro. It’s great fun. I rig my GoPro with a bait basket and drop it from my kayak and see what happens.

“I love the surprise am never quite sure what I will film. I call it crab.e.cam because crabs are the most common and I started filming on a crab net.

“I have a background in marine biology and work for the Environment Department here, so this fascinates me.

“Among my favourite things are fishing and filming from my kayak, diving and snorkelling.”