Today let’s talk about one of the more looked-down upon species of Mintop, crawbers. Many consider them buffoons, and they just don’t mind. Quoted from the species appendix in Slubes:

“Crawbers are decapods (crabs, lobsters, crayfish) that are very short, their dimensions being almost equal. They have hard, red outer shells and black, beady eyes. Their bodies are covered in an assortment of small, blunt spikes, and they have two large claws and six thin, pointed legs. Crawbers are often viewed by other species as simple and buffoonish, and though this has come to be seen as an insensitive stereotype, many crawbers are carefree enough to pay it no heed. Their average lifespan is about 50 years.”

Physical Characteristics

Crawbers appear to be somewhere between crabs and lobsters. The outward appearance of the crawber, as quoted from my personal encyclopedia: “Crawbers, at half the height of slubes, have close to the same height, length and width. Crawbers are hard and red, with slight variance in the coloring. They have black, beady eyes and pointy mouth, claws, and legs, the mouth having short, curved spikes on the bottom going up; the two claws together are about half the size of their body, and the legs are numbered at six. They have spikes going down their back, and other spikes on the side of their head. Near the end of their life the shell my crack and fall off, revealing the pink, squishy underskin.”

Crawbers can survive both in and out of water, though they tend to stay up on land; they’re equally clumsy in both areas. Crawber eggs must be laid in water and hatchlings must remain in water until their shell grows or they will dry out; those that live further inland will usually use a large tank of water for this purpose.

History and Culture

It’s said that crawbers came from the sea up onto land and immediately stopped evolving. This is probably one of the speciesist (that’s an awkward word) remarks, but it’s often used to explain why they’re clumsy. So few crawbers live outside the islands of Hackney and Interp that they go practically uncounted in population surveys.

As was said, crawbers are considered by many to be buffoonish and simple-minded. Although in more recent years this has been considered a bad stereotype, they often remain the butt of many jokes. Few crawbers have been seen having a problem with this, though, remaining upbeat and jovial despite what others say. Perhaps it’s not that they’re buffoonish or simple-minded, but they simply don’t let things concern or bother them.