Devlieger, L. (2023). The Crab at the End of the World. Anthropocenes – Human, Inhuman, Posthuman, 4(1): 2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/ahip.1434 VISUAL ESSAY The Crab at the End of the World Lionel Devlieger The Chinese Mitten Crab, a freshwater crab species originating from China, was accidentally introduced in Europe in the early 20 th C when Western steamers, returning from China, emptied their ballast water tanks in German harbours. From there, in the course of the last century, the species gradually colonized the coastlines of the North Sea and the Atlantic southwards, but also much of the rest of the world. This visual essay is based upon material collected by Rotor for an installation at the 2018 Bruges Triennial. The narrative starts from the massive but scarcely known presence of the crab in the world-famed canals of the city of Bruges to tell the story of the species’ amazing resilience and age-old adaptedness to anthropogenic environments. This is also a reconstruction of the Mitten Crab’s unique travel patterns, partly the result of the species own migratory drive, but partly also following, unwittingly, the tendency of humans to travel ever further, ever faster. Like the exhibition, the essay explores the habits and motivations of an invasive species while deliberately suspending judgment. This is not to excuse the species of harming local biodiversity. But to recognize the fair share of responsibility we as humans bear in the present situation. Keywords: invasive species; anthropogenic environments; migration; ruins of capitalism; 20th C; Eriocheir sinensis; empire; seafood; fresh-water habitats; ballast-water 1. Bruges canals If a theatre play were to be written, telling the story of the Anthropocene, who would be the typical protagonists? Humans of course love to see themselves centre-stage. But what or rather who are the other agencies at stake? In terms of other species, one could cast those on the brink of extinction or wiped out for good. A play with such characters – perpetrators vs. victims – would not only be depressing, but one-dimensional. The truth is that many species, micro-organisms, fungi, plants and animals, are doing pretty OK in the ruins of capitalism. One of these is featured here: Eriocheir sinensis, the (Chinese) mitten crab, a remarkably versatile acrobat, long-time inhabitant of the city of Bruges, now guilty of faring well. This visual essay tells a story of back-and-forth movements: how this crab-species travelled from Asia to Europe, and then later back again, piggybacking willy- nilly on the globalization of commercial exchanges, manoeuvring between varying cultural customs and inclinations. 2. Wool-hand Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ghent University, BE lionel.devlieger@ugent.be Figure 1: (a, b) Images from the Rotor exhibition What’s Eating the Chinese Mitten Crab for the Bruges Art Triennial, 2018. Poortersloge, Bruges, Belgium. Credits: Rotor vzw, Brussels, Belgium. Figure 2: Detail of a Chinese Mitten Crab Pincer. Credit: Phil Crabb, Natural History Museum Photo Unit, London, UK.