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Japanese spider crab

 
Japanese Spider Crab

 
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Japanese spider crab
 
 
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The Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi, is the largest known arthropod
Arthropod

Arthropods are animals belonging to the Scientific classification Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others....
; fully grown it can reach a leg span of almost 4 m (13 ft), a body size of up to 37 cm (15 inches) and a weight of up to 20 kg (44 lb
Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a Units of measurement of massused in the Imperial unit, United States customary units and other systems of measurement....
). The crab's natural habitat
Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or Natural_environment area that is inhabited by a particular animal or plant species. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population....
 is on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 (some 300 to 400 m deep) around Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, where it feeds on dead animals and shellfish
Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton bearing aquatic invertebrate used as food, including various species of Molluscas, crustaceans, and echinoderms....
. It is believed to have a life expectancy
Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is the average expected lifespan of an individual. Life expectancy is heavily dependent on the criteria used to select the group....
 of up to 100 years.

Currently, this is the only living species of the genus Macrocheira, but there have been two reports of other fossil
Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
 specimens.






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The Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi, is the largest known arthropod
Arthropod

Arthropods are animals belonging to the Scientific classification Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others....
; fully grown it can reach a leg span of almost 4 m (13 ft), a body size of up to 37 cm (15 inches) and a weight of up to 20 kg (44 lb
Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a Units of measurement of massused in the Imperial unit, United States customary units and other systems of measurement....
). The crab's natural habitat
Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or Natural_environment area that is inhabited by a particular animal or plant species. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population....
 is on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 (some 300 to 400 m deep) around Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, where it feeds on dead animals and shellfish
Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton bearing aquatic invertebrate used as food, including various species of Molluscas, crustaceans, and echinoderms....
. It is believed to have a life expectancy
Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is the average expected lifespan of an individual. Life expectancy is heavily dependent on the criteria used to select the group....
 of up to 100 years.

Currently, this is the only living species of the genus Macrocheira, but there have been two reports of other fossil
Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
 specimens. M. kaempferi is named in honor of Engelbert Kaempfer
Engelbert Kaempfer

Engelbert Kaempfer was a Germany naturalist, traveller and physician....
, the Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
 traveller and naturalist from Lemgo
Lemgo

Lemgo is a city in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of c. 42,000.It was founded in the 12th century by Bernhard II at the crossroad of two merchant routes....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
.

Physical characteristics

The Japanese spider crab has 8 legs
Arthropod leg

The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: coxa , trochanter , femur, tibia, tarsus , ischium, metatarsus, carpus, dactylus , patella....
 and 2 feeding arms. It has an orange body with white spots on its thin legs. In males, the limbs on which the claws are located become longer than its other limbs, and a large male can widen them to more than 3 m. The oval-shaped and vertically rounded shell can reach 30 cm in width and can be up to 40 cm long. The compound eyes are situated on the front, and two thorns stick out between them. Younger specimens feature hair and thorns on the shell, and their frontal horns are longer, but these gradually atrophy as the crab ages.

Spider Crab At the Kaiyukan in Osaka, Japan


Natural habitat and human impact

The Japanese spider crabs' habitat is limited to the Pacific
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 side of the Japanese archipelago
Japanese Archipelago

The , which forms the country of Japan, extends roughly from northeast to southwest along the northeastern coast of the Eurasia mainland, washing upon the northwestern shores of the Pacific Ocean....
. They often live on the seabed at depths of 150 to 800 m, but are found most prominently in depths of 200 to 300 m. In spring, they can often be found laying eggs in waters as shallow as 50 m.

The Japanese spider crab is caught using small trawling nets, and is often eaten salted and steamed. It is caught in the Sagami
Sagami Bay

Sagami Bay , also known as the Sagami Gulf or Sagami Sea, lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shonan coastline to the north, while the island of Oshima marks the sout...
, Suruga
Suruga Bay

Suruga Bay is a bay on the Pacific Ocean coast of Honshu in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is situated north of an imaginary line joining Omaezaki, Shizuoka Point and Irozaki Point at the tip of the Izu Peninsula and surrounded by Honshu to the southwest and west and the Izu Peninsula to the east....
, and Tosa bays and also around the Izu Islands
Izu Islands

The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshu, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo....
. Catching of the crab is forbidden during the spring, when it lays its eggs.

It is considered a specialty around Suruga Bay, but numbers of the crab have diminished over recent years, and there are many efforts to protect them. In Wakayama Prefecture
Wakayama Prefecture

File:WakayamaMapCurrent.png is a Prefectures of Japan of Japan located on the Kii Peninsula in the Kansai region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Wakayama, Wakayama....
, the crabs are caught when they move to shallower waters in the spring.

The Japanese spider crab is also used for research and ornamental purposes. It has a gentle disposition and is often reared in aquaria
Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. fishkeeping use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants....
.

See also

  • Largest arthropods
    Largest organisms

    The largest organism found on earth can be measured using a variety of methods. It could be defined as the largest by volume, mass, height, or length....