Having dipped in the ocean to renew themselves, the bright-red would-be mothers seek out the males. Once entwined, the tangle may last half an hour. When she is ready, the female disengages and descends into her den. The male, duty done, begins the long trek back to the forest. But for the female, the odyssey has just begun. 

 

In darkness, she produces up to 100,000 glistening eggs and broods them for 12 or 13 days, waiting for the cue that drives her entire migration, the waning moon and the resulting mild tides. 

 

Eggs stowed in abdominal sacs, the females make a clattering dash to the sea. Here on the moonlit beaches of their own birth, they brace themselves at the water's edge and release their offspring in an antic dance born of instinct and desperation.