Japanese Spider Crab

ocean · giant creatures · crabs

Incredibly long legs. The Japanese spider crab can stretch up to 3.75 meters from one leg tip to the opposite leg tip, which is about as wide as a small car. No other arthropod in the whole world has legs that long.

Lives in deep water. These crabs make their home in the waters around Japan, where they crawl along the ocean floor in the deep sea.

Tiny at first. Baby spider crabs go through four different life stages, starting out much smaller than their parents before they finally grow into the enormous creatures we know today.

Record-breaking size. Scientists measure the Japanese spider crab by its leg-span, which makes it the largest crab living in Japanese waters and one of the most impressive creatures in the ocean.