Spider Crab - Long Beach Aquarium

From Wikipedia…

“The Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi, is the largest living arthropod; fully grown it can reach a leg span of almost 4 m (13 feet), a body size of up to 37 cm (15 inches) and a weight of up to 20 kg (44 pounds). The crab’s natural habitat is on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (some 300–400 m deep) around Japan, where it feeds on dead animals and shellfish. It is believed to have a life expectancy of up to 100 years”.

One of the more impressive displays I saw while at the aquarium was the Spider Crab. They had a tank with a handful of them and it was amazing the size of these crabs. The pictures below don’t capture the enormous sizes of these crabs compare to the ones we usually see. I kept on thinking “Deadliest Catch” from the Discovery Channel for some reason. haha.

They were somewhat active as one tried to climb the front part of the tank giving everyone a great look at how wide it can expand. The tank itself was pretty dark with a blue actinic light so I touched up the pictures a bit to bring out the colors of these spider crabs. I was so mesmorized by this tank that after I went through the aquarium, I came back to look at them again.

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