Gelatinous animals have been historically viewed as trophic dead-ends. However, there are increasing data showing these organisms being consumed by diverse predators and demonstrate they play an important role in ecosystem functioning. Here we document the Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) scavenging on stranded Physalia physalis (Linnaeus, 1758) at Sergipe and Bahia, tropical Brazil (11° and 14° Lat. S), based on Instagram® posts. These findings highlight the potential of social media to complement the information provided by traditional academic sources. We also suggest that this predatory interaction is probably more common than reported in the literature, perhaps due to methodological constraints of stomach content analyses, which may overlook the consumption of gelatinous animals by ghost crabs.

凝胶状动物在历史上一直被视为营养死胡同。然而，越来越多的数据表明这些生物被不同的捕食者消耗，并证明它们在生态系统功能中发挥着重要作用。在这里，我们记录了在搁浅的酸浆酸浆上觅食的Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787)（林奈，1758 年）在巴西热带地区（南纬 11° 和 14°）塞尔希佩和巴伊亚，基于 Instagram® 帖子。这些发现强调了社交媒体在补充传统学术来源提供的信息方面的潜力。我们还认为这种掠夺性相互作用可能比文献中报道的更常见，这可能是由于胃内容物分析的方法学限制，这可能忽略了鬼蟹对凝胶状动物的消耗。