A passenger arriving by way of Sydney airport gave the customs staff at Auckland, NZ a scare with what he had to declare:  Five big, live crabs in his luggage.

“We get a lot of fish and crustaceans coming through, but live crabs are very unusual,” said Auckland Airport Biosecurity Team Leader Nick Willis.

“They were quite large and gave us a bit of a fright,” Willis added, “One actually crushed a pen when we were taking photos.”

The passenger was allowed to go through, but the crabs were not because they could cause damage to NZ’s marine species and natural environment, either on their own or because they might have been carrying unwanted organisms.

The crabs' species is not known.  But trafficking in non-native flora and fauna has caused trouble in spots around the world as non-native invading species out-compete the locals for food and territory.

The passenger doesn’t have to pay a fine because he declared the crabs on the way in.  But he did get hit with a $20 fee for euthanizing and storing the crustaceans for collection on his way out of New Zealand.