Crab claws

*The giant Japanese Spider Crab is the biggest crab in the world. It can grow to up to 10 feet. n The Coconut Crab is the largest land crab found in India. It can climb coconut trees and with its stout pincers it can make holes in coconuts to extract the kernel to feed on.

*The Pea Crab has a smooth, round body not bigger than a pea. It lives inside the shells of mussels and clams.

*Hermit Crabs, found in the sea, stay in the empty shells of snails and they move along with it.

* One of the two claws of a male Fiddler Crab is brightly coloured and is bigger than its body. This coloured claw is used for attracting the female crab. On seeing the female, the male crab starts waving its coloured claw to call her; hence they are also called Calling Crabs’. The coloured claw is also used to ward off rival males.

*Crabs are omnivores and feed on fish and worms. They crunch up all kinds of other little animals with their pincers.

*Distinguishing a male and female crab is easy — a male crab has a triangular abdominal flap and the female has a rounded abdominal flap.

*The female crab stores the eggs in her abdomen and takes care of the young ones till they are big enough to look after themselves.

* The eyes of crabs are on stalks that can fold and can rotate up to360 degrees.

* Crabs have many enemies. Larger sea animals feed on them. Birds along sea shores swallow them. Dogs, jackals, wild cats, ducks and waterfowl too eat crabs. But human being are the largest consumers of crabs.