The 'This Kills the Crab' meme originated from a photograph in the 2011 cookbook 'How to Cook Shellfish,' which shows a pair of scissors being used to cut a crab's face. The caption in the book provided the deadpan instruction, 'This kills the crab,' which resonated with internet users for its incredibly blunt and morbidly factual tone. It quickly spread across Reddit and Tumblr as a reaction image to signify an action that, while perhaps small or clinical, results in immediate and absolute ruin. The meme is a staple of 'anti-humor,' often used to describe life's minor inconveniences as fatal blows or to mock overly obvious instructions.