It’s Crabzilla! Biggest Known Crab On Earth

Hail Crabzilla! The Japanese Spider Crab is the biggest arthropod on Earth–their legs are believed to grow up to 12 feet long. But since they live at such great depths (typically 1,000 feet down or so) a full grown spider crab has yet to be caught. So for now, we’ll have to make due with the 5 foot long Crabzilla (that’s what it’s called–I didn’t make it up!), one of the largest known crabs in the planet.

Japanese Spider Crab

 According to the BBC, Crabzilla will be the biggest crab ever seen in Britain when it’s brought on show at Birmingham’s National Sea Life Centre. From the report:

The crabs are commonly found in the Pacific in 1,000 ft (300m) deep waters but have been known to live deeper. Curator Graham Burrows said: “It is rumoured these crabs can grow as big as four metres, big enough to straddle a car. “He will absolutely dwarf the other crabs in there, but he’s not aggressive and they should have nothing to worry about.”

The Japanese spider crab has long captured the imagination of sea life-lovers, and you can see why–underwater, the sinister-looking thing looks like the source for any number of horror or sci fi move creatures. With 10 legs, believed to live up to 100 years, and the biggest of them believed to be lurking at depths over 2,000 feet, few creatures retain as much mystique as the spider crab.