Today in amazing nature I bring you a really scary animal for its disproportionate size considering that other specimens of the same species are of a reduced size, some can fit in our hands, although you do not want to grab one because it can catch your hands and hurt them, I'm talking about a crab, the same that has been symbolized by many cultures in the world, this is the Japanese spider crab and I will describe some of its characteristics. Come with me.
If you have the opportunity to see this animal in person, your experience will be a little shocking not to say terrifying, is a large crab, for a moment you think it was taken from a science fiction film, and if you suffer from any phobia towards spiders because you could die of fright.
As evidenced by its name, it is very similar to a spider, well after all spiders are related to crabs in a certain way, with the only detail of its size, the spider crab is totally recognizable by its gigantic size even among other species of crabs, its body can measure about 40 centimeters, while its legs can pass the 4 meters in length, now just imagine a crab of 4 meters in wingspan. Totally crazy, right?
Its size is the product of a long evolution in the waters of the Japanese sea and it has a problem, it is totally blind, although this is not a problem because, lacking hearing, another organ developed in this incredible animal, it has a super-developed ear that allows it to listen with sharpness, accompanied by fine hairs that help it capture sound waves under water.
Its scientific name is Macrocheira kaempferi and it has the title of being the largest arthropod in the world.
It fascinates him to be in depths of 600 meters, but on occasions it can be to about 50 meters of marine depth, so it is not an easy task to study it in its natural habitat, the divers can see it when it is to 50 meters of depth, but when this deeper they have to use mini-submersibles.
Although unfortunately, some fishing boats do the impossible to capture and sell in the marine products market because our spider crab friend is a delicacy much sought after by Japanese diners.
He has a very powerful jaw compared to that of a crocodile, even studies indicate that on passes that force, with his big jaw, can have an excellent defense against predators, has in his saliva a powerful anticoagulant with which often becomes a real deadly weapon.
He is a master of marine camouflage, he adapts remains of things he finds so as not to be detected by his predators, these objects can be algae, snails and whatever they can find, they can spend a long time with that camouflage, until he changes place, undoing his old decoration and dedicating himself to looking for new objects that will help him to keep going unnoticed.
Some studies have found specimens that exceed 7 meters in size but only two cases have been confirmed, the Japanese spider crab has its head fused to the thorax, in what is called cephalothorax and the abdomen, its breathing is the bronchial type. And it has special appendages for swimming called pleopods.
Although it is fish for commercialization it is not in danger of extinction thanks to Japanese laws of special fishing that determine when it cannot be hunted, the exact season in which it cannot be caught is in spring because it is the season in which it spawns.
Then we find the living fossil of the largest crabs on the planet that has managed to survive all climate changes and human pollution. Perhaps because it is submerged in depths where it is unlikely to be captured or contaminated.
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