Compendium Entry #3
Money makes the world go round – but how many of those coins jingling in your pocket are actually alive? The Cash Crabber has infiltrated global currency systems so completely that every handful of change likely contains at least one of these metallic imposters. They’re hiding in plain sight, circulating through the very foundations of our economy.
Common Names: Coin Cash Crabber, Coin Crab, Penny Pincher
Family: Reversocrabanidae (Reverse-Carcinization Crabs)
Genus: Urbacrabus (City Crabs)
Species: Pecuniavida (Cash Crabber)
Variety: Nummularius (Coin)
Description:
Each Cash Crabber precisely matches the dimensions of standard currency coins, typically 1-2 inches in diameter. Their biological metallurgy is their most fascinating trait – somehow these creatures incorporate specific metal alloys into their shell structure, matching the exact composition of legal tender. Under jeweler’s magnification, you can occasionally spot the microscopic seams where their legs retract, though they’re virtually invisible to the naked eye.
These creatures are fundamentally restructuring their bodies at an atomic level. I’ve observed specimens spontaneously recomposing themselves when exposed to new currencies, their surfaces rippling as they form new mint marks and edge patterns. The precision of their mimicry defies conventional biology.
The Treasury Department knows. My sources indicate multiple “quality control facilities” that are actually studying captured Cash Crabbers. They’re particularly interested in how these creatures can pass every standard authentication test while remaining biologically active. The implications for national security or destabilizing foreign counties’ economies are obvious.
The Coin Cash Crabber is highly adaptable, thriving in various environments where coins are found. It’s a silent observer, camouflaged within the sea of coins. Its diet is as versatile as its habitats, snacking on anything from bits of snacks in vending machines to the occasional stray mint in a purse.
Follow the money and you’ll find Cash Crabbers. They thrive in banks, markets, and anywhere else currency accumulates. Most fascinating is their ability to spread through financial networks – a single specimen can travel from a street vendor in Bangkok to a bank vault in Switzerland within weeks, carried along by normal currency flows.
