SCP-L408

Due to a unique mutation on their claw, specimens can teleport. They have little control over their final destination.

Anorrack

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Photo taken from Wikimedia, licensed under CC 4.0.

Item #: SCP-L408

Object Class: Keter Neutralized

Archived Special Containment Procedures: There are to be a maximum of 1000 specimens permitted in containment. Injured specimens or specimens over the population limit are to be disposed of via incineration.

No effective means of preventing SCP-L408’s teleportation has been found.

Updated Containment Procedures (05/12/2013): There are to be a maximum of 500 specimens permitted in containment.

Updated Containment Procedures (08/15/2013): Miniaturized GPS trackers are to be fastened to contained specimens' abdomens.

Updated Containment Procedures (02/01/2014): There are to be a maximum of 200 specimens permitted in containment.

A juvenile Hemigrapsus specimen, found in the water cooler of the Site-34 rec room.

Archived Description: SCP-L408 is the collective designation for the species Hemigrapsus estellinesis, an extremely rare species of troglobitic crabs. SCP-L408 instances can tolerate fresh water for long periods of time, but prefer to reside within hyper-saline water sources (specific gravity of 1.031).

Due to a unique mutation of the chitin on the right pincer and joint, Hemigrapsus possesses the ability to fold space through snapping its claw, allowing the species to teleport to or within any nearby¹ water source as a response to real or perceived threats. This ability appears to develop in ovo, as egg masses have been observed to also teleport.

It is theorized that the mutation occurred relatively recently within the species, as specimens have little control over their final destination when teleporting. The only known requirement for a teleportation target is that the location must possess a high water content. This does not take into account the temperature, volume, pressure, density, phase, solute, or material composition of the teleportation target. Additionally, due to the gregarious nature of SCP-L408, mass teleportation events may be triggered, often resulting in mass die-offs.

The anomaly was first discovered during routine maintenance of Site-34 in 1964. A colony was found within the Site’s water purification plant, apparently driven there after the destruction of a nearby salt spring by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Notable Incidents (Date, Ascending):²

Location of Specimen	Cost of Remediation (USD)	Notes
Site-34 cafeteria water cooler	$20	Deceased instance discovered after repeated complaints about the taste of the water.
Ice cubes immersed in coffee	$450	The instantaneous displacement of solid ice by two (2) SCP-L408 specimens resulted in the shattering of the coffee mug and severe scalding of Security Guard Jeremy Oves.
Site-34 recreational sauna	$1,410	Site's recreational sauna was filled with seven hundred (700) SCP-L408 specimens. Three (3) researchers who were using the sauna at the time were safely recovered. Majority of specimens recovered had been boiled alive.
Three (3) ounces of water	$15,320	Four (4) adult specimens appeared within three (3) ounces of water located within the stomach of Security Guard Jeremy Oves, during a follow-up appointment with his physician. Specimens were extracted from his stomach, but not before he suffered severe lacerations to his stomach lining.
Cumulonimbus cloud formation above Site-34	$170,000	County-wide reports of a "crab rain" persisted for several hours after the initial teleportation event.
Site-34 men's bathroom	$780	A single occupied toilet in the men's bathroom was filled with three hundred (300) SCP-L408 specimens. Security Guard Jeremy Oves was subsequently admitted to the infirmary for injuries in the line of duty.
Security Guard Jeremy Oves	$50,000	Oves complained of sinus pain and irritated eyes before discovering around seventy (~70) eggs lodged within his left eye socket.
Cyanide solution containing <5% water	$450	Two (2) specimens teleported into solution used for containment of SCP-[REDACTED]. In order to escape the toxic solution, crabs subsequently teleported to the water cooler and contaminated the cooler with the solution. Two (2) researchers and one (1) security guard were hospitalized for cyanide poisoning before the crabs were contained.
Five (5) boba tea drinks	$170	Two eggmasses were found to have contaminated the boba tea served at the local cafeteria. Security Guard Jeremy Oves underwent anaphylactic shock due to a developed shellfish allergy. Oves was subsequently hospitalized.
Waterbed	$10	One (1) specimen disappeared from the enclosure for three weeks. It was later recovered from within Security Guard Jeremy Oves' waterbed in the barracks,3 after Oves complained of consecutive nights of poor sleep due to experiencing infrequent "pinching" sensations.
Security Guard Jeremy Oves	$24,000	Oves reported extreme testicular pain for several days, prior to the extraction of a living juvenile specimen from his scrotum.
Bowl of fruit punch	$300	Fifty-two (52) specimens teleported into a small bowl of fruit punch, during a private party celebrating Security Guard Jeremy Oves' recovery from surgery. Oves subsequently requested personal leave for a period of two weeks.
Site-34 swimming pool	$1,710	Eighty-seven (87) specimens and two (2) egg masses teleported into Site-34's recreational swimming pool, and subsequently died from exposure to chlorine. Water aerobics was canceled for the duration of the cleanup.
Security Guard Jeremy Oves	$500	Within two hours of his return to work, Oves suddenly exhibited signs of a heart attack, and fell unconscious, presenting no vital signs when he arrived to the infirmary. An autopsy revealed that his left atrium had been filled by one (1) deceased SCP-L408 specimen, causing an immediate myocardial infarction. His body was incinerated and the cremains were remanded to his widow.

SCP-L408 experienced severe and unmitigated population decline, despite updated containment procedures, and the entire contained population self-extirpated within three months of Security Guard Jeremy Oves' death.

In 2016, the Foundation Cloning Division initiated Project LAZARUS, a multi-disciplinary effort to clone tissue from extinct anomalous organisms for further study. SCP-L408 was initially selected due to the large amount of genetic material on hand. This proposal was rejected for practicality concerns.

Update (07/20/2025): Due to the success in the increased scope of Project LAZARUS in the cloning of select Foundation personnel, the proposed deextinction of SCP-L408 is to be reexamined, following the successful cloning of Security Guard Jeremy Oves.

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Welcome, Oves, J (2)
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Footnotes

1. The maximum range of SCP-L408's teleportation is unknown, though specimens typically do not teleport further than a kilometer.

2. The majority of recorded teleportation events are too numerous and repetitive to be listed here, and as such have been omitted.

3. Waterbed gifted to Oves as part of the Employee Rewards Program (SCP-ERP) for "contributions to containment."

‡ Licensing / Citation

Cite this page as:

"SCP-L408" by Anorrack, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scpwiki.com/scp-l408. Licensed under CC BY-SA.

For information on how to use this component, see the License Box component. To read about licensing policy, see the Licensing Guide.

Filename: Hemigrapsus oregonensis (yellow shore crab).jpg
Author: Gcau
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Source Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hemigrapsus_oregonensis_(yellow_shore_crab).jpg
Additional Notes: Metadata extracted from Wikimedia Commons using SCP Licensebox Wizard; License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 CC 4.0 metadata detected. This may be acceptable on SCP EN but should be checked for the target branch.