Look at this - It is scary and amazing. Can you imagine something that can be so big?
This crab is also known as an Macrocheira Kaempferi, it
lives in the waters of Japan. Okay, the crab can grow up to 40 centimetres and
can weigh 19 kilograms, I also always used to see this when I was younger, the
Japanese name for it is taka-ashi-gani
That name means tall legs crab. It is the only member in the genus Macrocheira.
Alright they aren’t all that bad, but here’s some creepy facts that will make you stay away from them...
They can grow up to 365 cm’s and they will eat anything, even people.. They are the biggest crab in the sea and only have a few predators to worry about.
Ancient mariner legends tell that these crabs used to drag sailors overboard and eat them, ALIVE!
They can live for over a century and they start off nearly microscopic in size, a tiny crab turning to a huge crab. If you ever go swimming in Japan you probably went past thousands of these crabs and didn’t even know it! They look nothing like crabs when they hatch, the crabs lay a lot of eggs, well over a million.
The crabs can still survive after losing their legs!!
People also eat them as a delicacy, and we have no clue how many are out there!
You know, they aren’t all that bad… They are gentle giants they aren’t all
scary, they only prefer scavenging for food, not hunting and they are actually
very gentle creatures, researchers have found that with smart handling they’re
easy to work with! They do fairly well in captivity, and they are a popular
installment at aquariums, which is where I always saw them, so they aren’t as
bad after all, just friendly scary looking huge, adorable crabs!
Maybe go down to an aquarium and you could see some.