User blog comment:Lord Loss/Monster Hunter Theory... Blog/@comment-765166-20120321130133/@comment-1011548-20120321225123

It's not actually that crazy; it's just shell-shedding. Crabs have an exoskeleton which means they can't grow, unless they shed the hard stuff and allow the soft tissue underneath to expand (before that hardens as well). The hard shell of a crab can look completely different to how it does when they've just shed (in fact they're normally white just after shedding. But we'll accept some artistic license here).

But what about the thunder? Well, arthropods like crabs are at their most vulnerable just after shedding; they lack their normally hard armour and the new expanding skin takes a while to toughen. So it makes sense for Taikun to have another means to defend itself when vulnerable like this... And this is MH world, with all its mainy super-predators... some powerful thunder attacks would perhaps save its life!