Japanese Spider Crabs

The Japanese Spider Crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) is a large crab. One of the largest crabs. Its leg span can reach up to 4 metres, and their bodies can be 37 cm. They are 44 lbs (20 kg). They mainly live on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean or they live in Japanese waters, 300m-400m deep. They lay eggs in waters that are 50 m deep. They have 8 legs and two feeding arms. Most Japanese Spider crabs live for about 100 years, eating dead animals and shellfish. Japanese Spider crabs are huge and they also live for a long time.

Fiddler Crabs

Fiddler crabs (Uca pugnax) are small crabs. The males have one big fiddle shaped claw that they use for digging or for competing against other fiddler crabs for a mate. They are also known as calling crabs. They shed shells as they grow. They live in mangroves, salt marshes, and beaches of West Africa, the Eastern Pacific, and the Western Atlantic. They eat fungi and algae. They only live for 2 years and 3 years in captivity. The males' claws grow back after they lose it. The shape grows like a fiddle again.

Asian Shore Crabs

Asian Shore Crabs (Hemigrapsus sanguineus) live in the Pacific Ocean. They have a square-shaped shell with 3 spines on each side of the carapace. The males have fleshy, bulb-like part at the base of a movable claw finger. Asian Shore Crabs are also known as Pacific Shore Crabs and they eat salt marsh grass, fish, algae, and small invertebrates. They fight over hunting grounds against lobsters, blue crabs, and native mud crabs.

Sponge Crabs

Sponge Crabs (Dromidiopsis dormia) are small crabs that carry living sponges for protection and camouflage. That's how they got their name. They live mainly in the West Coast of Africa and in the Mediterranean Sea. They sometimes use flip-flops for camouflage if they fail to find a nice sponge. They are nocturnal scavengers that eat dead plants and animals. Sponge crabs are interesting, unusual crabs.

Halloween Crabs

The Halloween Crab (Gecarcinus quadratus) is a small, territorial crab that is very colourful. It has big purple claws, red-orange legs, a brown (almost black) carapace, yellow-orange spots behind its eyes, and two white spots on the lower part of its carapace. It is also known as the moon crab, the mouthless crab, harlequin land crab, and much more.

Its habitat is the mangroves, sand dunes, and coastal rainforests in Central America. It is also found in the coasts of West Africa and the lower areas of the Volta River.

It lives in the forest for a part of their adult life, then goes back to the ocean to reproduce and find mates. It can live for 10-15 years. Its diet is mostly herbivorous; it feeds on dead plant material and seedlings, but it occasionally eats other animals in its territory.

Aren't halloween crabs cool?

Crabs to explore

That is a good idea to start with crabs. There are around 6,800 species of crabs discovered. This is a short list of the crabs we know of:

• Dungeness Crab
• Rock Crab
• Hermit Crab
• King Crab
• Sponge Crab
• Kelp Crab
• Asian Shore Crab (a.k.a Pacific Shore Crab)
• Snow Crab
• Masked Crab
• Circular Crab
• Halloween Crab
• Arrow Crab
• Sally Lightfoot
• Thumbnail Crab
• Japanese Spider Crab
• Yeti Crab
• Ghost Crab
• Fiddler Crab
• Ranidid
• Calico Crab
• Pea Crab

We will talk about six types of crabs among them in next few days.

Crabs on the beach

I had a trip to the beach and looked for sea creatures. Many crabs were found and I caught a few Asian Shore Crabs. Of course, I released them soon after seeing their behaviours around some rocks in a container. It would be a good idea to talk about crabs here as our first topic.

Hello!

I would like to introduce a new blog "Nature Cycles". This is mainly about animal facts and trivias. I hope this blog helps us understand animals better and we become better neighbours of animals on earth. Stay tuned!