directed at juveniles when they are likely to encounter their own offspring. In addition to age, sex may affect cannibalistic behaviour as males cannibalised newly moulted females less than males.

They have, rarely, been identified as feeding on humans; in Melbourne in 2017 a boy who stood in the sea for about half an hour had severe bleeding from wounds on his legs that did not coagulate easily. This was found to have been caused by "sea fleas" identified as lysianassid amphipods, possibly in a feeding