This is the moment when a tiny crab stood up against a hungry alligator and won.
The sneaky alligator caught the surprised shellfish off guard as it crept toward it.
But once the plucky crustaceans heard the greedy gator, it turned around and showed its pincers before reaching for the giant predator’s nose.
The crab then quickly moved away from the angry alligator before he could seek revenge. It left one tiny claw raised high above the mud as a symbol of victory before disappearing completely.
The extraordinary face-off was caught on camera by Phil Lanoue, who lives near Murrells Inlet in South Carolina’s Huntington Beach State Park, where the action happened.
The defeated alligator was severely irritated and slowly slunk away back into the water.
The 60-year-old said: “The gator tried to sneak up behind the crabs hoping to catch it by surprise.”
An older, more experienced alligator would have been much less stealthy in the stalking procedure and may have gone for a quick bite, but that wasn’t this young alligator’s style.
“The youngster was taking too long sneaking up on the crab, so the crab quickly turned around and raised its claws defiantly.”
“The gator inched forward, and the crab reached out with its right claw and gave the gator a good hard pinch on its nose.”
The startled alligator jerked its head to the side to get away from the crab’s claws while the crab scurried to the right and partially submerged itself in the mud of a small pool while keeping both claws up in a threatening manner.
“The defeated gator was severely annoyed and slowly walked away back into the water while crab lived to tell the story.”
