Recently, one of the British aquariums, located in the city of Weymouth, posted on its website a photo of the largest crab in the world. Such a move caused considerable stir, thanks to which the leadership of this institution managed to make good money. Soon, however, a fierce debate broke out on the net about whether such enormous people really live in the world or is this another fraud.
What do we know about crabs?
All crabs belong to the class of crustaceans. You can meet them in all corners of the globe, with the exception of the Arctic and Antarctic. All representatives of this species have five pairs of paws, while one of them ends with sharp claws. The size of the crab largely depends on what species it belongs to. Thus, the largest crab in the world has claws over 3.5 meters in length, and the smallest crab itself was no more than 2 cm wide.
By the way, to date, scientists have discovered more than four hundred species of these animals that live both in water and on land. Moreover, researchers are sure: this is not all representatives of a huge family. Therefore, it is possible that soon brave adventurers will find another species of crab, which can exceed the size of all their relatives.
But until this happens, let's look at the inhabitants of the seas already known to science. We will find out which of them deserves the title "The largest crab in the world."
Large land crab
The name of this species of crustacean speaks for itself. True, for a Russian person his second name is more familiar - a brown crab. It lives in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, and some of its representatives can be found even in the Mediterranean Sea. It has an oval body shape and a pair of medium sized claws. The shell is in most cases painted brown or red-brown.
On average, adults grow up to 25 cm in length, which makes them good candidates for the title of the largest crab on the planet. At the same time, their weight can range from 3-3.5 kilograms. However, science knows cases where a large land crab grew to much larger sizes.
Kamchatka crab
This species, although similar to its relatives, but, according to research by scientists, its genetic footprint is much closer to hermit crabs. Nevertheless, for a long time it was generally accepted that he is the largest crab in the world. A similar opinion existed due to the fact that many giants of this species fell into the net to fishermen, who later became living examples of their remarkable size.
For example, it is known that sea hunters caught Kamchatka crabs, whose weight reached 10 kilograms. True, such cases are very rare today. So, most adults stop growing, reaching 20-25 cm in the width of the cephalothorax. Thus, their weight varies between 5-7 kilograms. And then, similar sizes are inherent only to males, since females are about 2-3 times smaller than them.
Japanese crab spider - the largest crab in the world
To date, the winner’s title belongs to the Japanese spider crab. The size of this species is truly amazing in its scope. Just imagine: if you put this giant on a flat surface, then the length from the end of one claw to the end of the other will be about 3.5-4 meters.
On average, the legs of the Japanese spider crab reach 40-50 cm in length. And its weight varies between 15-20 kg. Thus, we can safely say that this species is the winner in the number of giant individuals.
The Truth About Weymouth Aquarium Inhabitant
As mentioned earlier, the largest crab in the world, according to the owners of the aquarium, lives in the city of Weymouth. However, how did he get there and is he really an absolute champion?
It all started with the fact that a family of fishermen caught a huge king crab near the coast of Australia . Its weight was about 7 kilograms, and the length of the shell was 38 centimeters. Thus, he was one of the largest crabs caught in the last decade.
After a huge inhabitant of the seas bought a famous aquarium. And thanks to his advertising, he became the most famous crab on the planet. True, one cannot say with certainty that this is the largest representative of crustaceans that have been caught by humans. He’s just the only one who managed to become a real star.