Japenese+Spider+Crab


 * Common Name: Japanese Spider Crab **
 * Phylum: ** Arthropoda


 * Scientific Name: ** //Macrocheira kaempferi//
 * Class: ** Malacostraca

**Location:** Pacific side of the Japanese archipelago. The crabs can be found at depths of 150m to 800m, but mainly these crabs go to depths of around 200m.The crabs are commonly found in the Pacific in 1,000 ft (300m) deep waters but have been known to live deeper.

**Size:** It has 8 legs with 2 feeding arms. These legs can grow up to 4m. The actual body of the Japanese spider crab can only reach a size of 37 cm with a weight of 20 kg.

**Habitat:** Ocean beds, especially in the Pacific Ocean are the natural habitat for the spider crabs. The eastern coasts of a island owned by Japan (Honshu) is where they can be largely found as well as in the Kagoshima Prefecture and Tokyo Bay. The Japanese Spider crab has also been spotted off of some coasts off of Taiwan. The adult crabs live in water that is deep as well as shall areas. They seem to favor depths between 800 to about 1000 feet. During the spring time is when the Japanese Spider crab lays its eggs. When residing in places the crabs naturally live they have a life span of close to 100 years.

**Living Requirements:** Japanese spider crab feeds itself with everything it can find on the bottom of the sea, including dead bodies. The diet of the Japanese Spider crab is varied. It includes algae, plants, starfish, mollusks, shell fish and sometimes human or animal carcasses. The spider crab is classified as an omnivore and behaves sometimes like a scavenger.

**Life Cycle:** You could compare them as little sea turtles with big legs and just like sea turtles the life expectancy of these sea creatures is estimated at around 100 years.

**Male and Female Differences:** The males species of the Japanese Spider crab when compared to the female has a longer leg span.

** Interesting Facts :) **
 * The Japanese Spider crab is thought to be the largest species of crab alive worldwide because of the length of the crab’s limb span.
 * For camouflage they attache small animals and sponges onto their shell for protection from predators.
 * The eyes of the Japanese Spider crab are located on the front, with two little horns between the eyes. These horns become shorter with age.[[image:spidercrab3.jpg width="420" height="315" align="left"]]

** Human Impact: ** It is considered a specialty around Suruga Bay, but numbers of the crab have diminshed over recent years, and these are efforts to protect them.

Neat Video: []

** Zookeeper's Sources: ** ** [] ** ** [] ** ** [] **