The Japanese spider crab has the longest lifespan of any crab, and can live to be 100 years old! Behaviorĭespite the intimidating appearance of these animals, the Japanese spider crab is harmless and is a slow-moving creature. Their long legs are considered weak, and these spider crabs are often seen missing one leg. Their legs hook inward to assist with hooking and grasping, and males have longer chelipeds, with females having much shorter chelipeds, which are shorter than the following pair of legs. While their legs continue to grow, their bodies remain unchanged throughout adulthood.
Its carapace is pear-shaped, narrowing towards the head, and females tend to have a wider abdomen, to hold their eggs. This crab is a striking orange in color and has white spots along the legs. It can weigh up to 44 pounds, and males are generally larger than females. It is the largest arthropod, its maximum size is 12 feet (3.7 m) across, with its body growing about 15 inches (37 cm) wide. Their Japanese name, Taka-Ashi-Gani, translates to “tall legs crab”.Īs its name suggests, the Japanese spider crab resembles a spider, although it has 10 limbs instead of eight. The name Macrocheira kaempferi comes from Engelbert Kaempfer, a German naturalist and physician who studied plants in Japan during the 17th century. The ancestry of spider crabs can be traced all the way back to prehistoric times, but it was first described by Western science in 1836 by Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. Japanese spider crabs live in the waters around Japan, and get their name from its resemblance to a spider. It is the largest known living arthropod and has the largest leg span of any arthropod, sometimes measuring up to 12.5 feet from the tip of one front claw to the other. The Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) is a species of marine crab.
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