It wasn't a rock...
A few years back I was out snorkelling with a friend of mine, on the hunt for abalone and rock lobsters, known locally as crayfish.

Click here for a picture of one such beast.

My friend spotted an especially large cray under a rock and decided that it would do nicely for dinner.

Now, most people around here who catch crayfish do so by means of a craypot, which is basically a large wicker basket with a funnel shaped opening that allows crays to get in, but not out. However, us divers regard this as cheating, and hold that the only honorable way to catch a cray is to dive beneath the surface and do battle with the creature yourself. Since crayfish tend to lurk in crevices under rocks, and retreat at the slightest sign of danger, they are quite hard to catch, especially when they're six metres down and you have to hold your breath while carefully extracting them.

My friend took a deep breath and dived down. I waited on top. And waited. And waited. Just as I was about to dive down and see if he was alright, he surfaced nearby, completely out of breath and with a large cray leg clamped tight around his index finger.

As he got his breath back, he told me what had happened. Most crays, when they sense that you're reaching for them, will simply shoot to the back of their hidey-hole and lurk there out of reach. This one, however, clearly pissed off with some bastard reaching into his home and trying to eat him, decided to fight back, and lunged at my friend's hand as he made a grab for it. Firmly latched on, it then used its tail to wedge itself even more firmly under the rock. This had the result that my friend was unable to remove the crayfish from the hole, and he was also unable to remove his hand from the crayfish. Running short on air, and faced with the embarrassing possibility of death by crustacean, he braced himself on the rock, and with an almighty heave tore the leg off the cray and made his escape.

After swimming back to shore, we were able to prise off the death-gripping claw, which my friend now keeps on his desk as a memento of the titanic struggle.

Yet somewhere out there, in the ocean deep, the cray with the missing leg still lurks, growing in size and hatred year after year, awaiting the day that my friend returns to the water, so that the two old enemies may join in their final battle...

...a battle to the death.

Apologies for length, but you're only allowed to take them if the carapace length from horns to rear is over 110mm.
(oball needs Satan more than he needs me, Thu 1 May 2008, 3:21, 1 reply)

like the film
Signs

although i doubt crayfish wwill ever try to take over the world.
(Dan dan dan They tik urh jerbs!!!, Thu 1 May 2008, 12:26, closed)