Black Sea crabs: types, sizes, description. Stone crab (Eriphia spinimana) Crabs and what's in them
Kamchatka crab is not like shrimp or crayfish, which you can easily cook at home in a saucepan or in a bucket over a fire.
They are so hefty that to cook them, fishermen build giant crab boilers, somewhat similar to tandoors.
But boiling the crab is not so bad; you still need to eat it. Without special equipment you won’t be able to get to the meat - you’ll injure all your hands on the strong armor on the phalanges.
Read below for everything you need to know about cooking and cutting crab.
2. As I already wrote in a post about crab fishing, the Kamchatka crab has huge limbs, the span of which can reach a meter or more.
Now imagine how you stuff this structure into a container to cook? Moreover, not one, but several, to feed several people. In most cases, a regular saucepan is not enough.
In the Far East, large crab boilers are built for this purpose, which are clay ovens with a large diameter container with a volume of 20 to 40 liters built into the upper part.
The last option, if you don’t have such a stove at hand, would be a large 15-20-liter saucepan, in which you can cook several individuals at the same time. 
3. The cooking process itself is simple and identical to the process of boiling regular crayfish: live crabs are placed in boiling water. True, there are two nuances. Firstly, crab is boiled ONLY in sea water and under no circumstances in fresh water. That is why crabs, as a rule, are boiled right on the shore directly in fishing camps. And only then they provide their storage and transportation to points of sale, if necessary.
Secondly, crabs are cooked much longer than crayfish - up to 20 minutes. The fishermen I've lifted crabs with say that many traders boil the crabs for just 10 minutes to increase the volume in the same amount of time. But in this case, the meat is not as tasty and the optimal time is still about 20 minutes. No spices, herbs or anything else are added to the water. Just like salt, because there is no need for it - the crabs are boiled in sea water.
Cooked crab has a bright red and pink-red color depending on the type: spiny (king) - brighter, Kamchatka and blue - less red. But the color must be bright and beautiful, not pale or yellowish. 
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4. Now about how to eat crabs correctly.
They are served on a tray upside down, because... What is important here is not beauty, but convenience. Among the edible things they have are phalanges, claws and shoulder muscles at the junction of the phalanges with the body. The blue crab's liver is also eaten, but only if the crab is cooked in a special way!
Attention! The liver of king crab is not eaten or cooked, so there is no need to even try. I haven’t tried it, but they say that you won’t be happy if, keeping in mind the interesting taste of blue crab liver, you want to eat it.
5. So, we break off the phalanx.
Unlike many other crustaceans, Far Eastern crabs are full of meat, not just claws. 
6. Now you will need... regular scissors! If the crab is large, ordinary ones may not take its chitin and you will need kitchen scissors to work with the bird. At this point you will be told to use lobster tongs. It is possible, but tongs work more roughly - they damage the meat in the phalanx and crush the chitin, as a result of which small fragments can get on the tooth. And scissors simply cut the phalanx... 
7. ... and she easily disassembles, exposing pink juicy meat 
8. The photo may not be very aesthetically pleasing, this is the meat of a blue crab phalanx. Delicacy!
All that remains is to simply eat it without a twinge of conscience. 
10. But the phalanges are not everything. The most delicious meat is found at the junction of the legs and the body. This is the so-called "rosette". The meat is taken out from here with a teaspoon, simply prying it off.
I repeat - this is the most delicious meat!!! People who don’t know often limit themselves to only the phalanges, and simply throw away the torso. Do not do that! 
Yes, and one more thing! Kamchatka crab is sold only cooked, because... Fresh cannot be frozen. If you defrost it, your paws will be... empty. The fact is that the muscles of a crab are not ordinary meat as we understand it, but a kind of gelatinous mass that in boiling water curls up like an egg and takes on the final form that we know. If you freeze it, then another irreversible process occurs, and the mass will simply stick to the walls of the phalanges from the inside and will no longer curl up during cooking... The crab will be without meat.
Crabs belong to the phylum arthropods, class Crustaceans, subclass Higher Crustaceans, order Decapoda crustaceans. These animals are found almost everywhere on Earth. Crabs have five pairs of legs, with the first pair long ago transformed into powerful claws. The size of crabs varies depending on the species. Typically, a crab's shell is between 2 and 30 cm wide.
Crabs are close relatives of crayfish. At first glance, they differ from cancer in the absence of a “tail” - an abdomen. In fact, crabs have an abdomen, but it is very small and tucked under the chest: a long abdomen is a hindrance when walking! Crabs could not become purely terrestrial animals; their life is closely connected with water, only there they can reproduce.
There are about four hundred different species of crabs, living in the oceans, with rare cases on land. Almost all crabs live in water and breathe through gills, just like fish. Some crabs swim on the surface of the sea, others move along the bottom, and some live under rocks and on the seashore.
Species native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans use the sea anemone as a weapon for hunting. They place it on one of the claws and paralyze the prey “by someone else’s hands” - with the help of its burning tentacles!
Decapods are very active animals. Crawling is carried out with the help of four pairs of hind limbs, which are located in front of the abdomen in crabs, which gives their gait a characteristic feature: they do not move straight, but in what is called a “barrel”.
An ordinary grass crab runs at a speed of 1 m/s, and a land ghost crab rushes on outstretched legs so fast that it manages to catch even small birds. Swimming crabs move sideways, with the second to fourth pairs of thoracic legs making 630-780 strokes per minute, and the last pair working even more intensely.
The small abdomen makes up the main part of its body, completely protected by a thick shell. The shell is the hard shell that covers the crab's body. It can be quadrangular, square, triangular or round in shape. The shell is the crab's main defense, but it does not grow with the animal, and when it becomes too tight, the crab sheds it.
When one shell is replaced by another, the crab becomes completely defenseless and is forced to hide among the stones until the new shell is completely formed. Some crabs use empty shells as protective shelters. As the crab grows, it periodically finds a new home for itself.
The coloration of decapods is very diverse. Most benthic species are brown or greenish in color. Those living among the algae are already pure green. The inhabitants of coral reefs are colorful, matching the multicolored coral limestones. The tropical land ghost crab is the color of sand, and in the bright sun its body casts a dark shadow on the light sand. Claws are a special feature of crabs; they are a pair of limbs located in the front of the body and very similar to forceps; In males of some species, the claws are covered with bristles. Claws are the main weapon of crabs: they use them both when hunting small mollusks and when engaging in battle with other crabs.
The claws can be different: huge, like those of a pocket crab, asymmetrical, like those of a fiddler crab (one claw is large and the other is small). In some of these animals (for example, the edible crab), the last pair of legs are shaped like paddles - oars with which they row when they swim.
The main food of crabs is algae, bivalves, fish eggs, larvae, worms and small fish, and animal remains. Using its tentacles, it dismembers food and brings it to its mouth. The crab can also filter out food particles from the water suspension.
Mating occurs immediately after winter migration and molt. With the beginning of the mating season, sexually mature males go to sea. There they wait for the females, who arrive there a little later. After fertilization, they move to the shallow sea. Females enter sexual maturity at the age of 8 years, and males at 10 years. Females are slightly smaller in size than males. A female crab can lay up to 40,000 eggs at a time. They lay eggs on their abdominal legs and the male fertilizes them. The female carries the eggs for almost a whole year.
After hatching from the eggs, the embryos first develop into swimming larvae. They then go through many stages of larval development and finally develop into small crabs. In order to grow, babies are forced to periodically change their shell (this is called molting). During these periods, in order to avoid attacks from predators, they are forced to hide.
Young mitten crabs, upon reaching two years of age, return to the freshwater habitats of their parents.
The most common species on the European coast is the land crab. They can be seen everywhere on the soft ground of the surf strip. Crabs wait out low tides by burying themselves in rocks or seaweed thrown out by the waves. The swimming crab also lives in the same places. It looks like a land crab, but its last pair of abdominal limbs have turned into small lobes. This species swims well and therefore feeds completely differently than the land crab. He hunts in the water, not at the bottom. Therefore, both crabs can live in the same habitat.
A relative of the swimming swimmer and land crab is the Chinese mitten crab. Once this species lived only in China near the coast of the Yellow Sea, but at the beginning of the 20th century it came with merchant ships to the mouth of the Elbe and managed to spread to many regions of Europe. It must be said that this guest is not very welcome, since he lives in large rivers and canals and digs caves in dams and dams, causing them considerable harm. Fishermen also don’t like him - he tears fishing nets and spoils the caught fish. This crab is called so because its claws are lined with fur.
Many crabs are edible, and their meat is highly prized. Crab meat is rich in proteins and low in fat. Crabs are caught using nets. Of these crabs, the edible crab is the most famous. It is found on the rocky coasts of Europe and is caught in large quantities. The edible crab feeds on dead fish and the meat of other dead animals. The diameter of its body can reach 25 cm. The edible crab can regrow lost legs and claws. If he is grabbed by a limb, he tears it off to free himself. After a few months, he grows a new limb. Crabs can come in a variety of sizes. The largest crab in the world is the Japanese spider crab: its shell reaches a diameter of 30 cm, and the distance from the tip of one leg to the tip of the opposite leg is 3.2 m.
Particularly popular is the Kamchatka crab (Paralithodes camtschatica), which received its name because the largest concentrations of these animals are concentrated in western Kamchatka. The width of the carapace of males of this species is on average 16 cm, and in some specimens it reaches 25 cm. The distance between the ends of the middle walking legs of such individuals is 1.5 m, and their body weight is 7 kg. The Kamchatka crab spends its entire long life wandering, repeating the same route every year. Because of its tasty meat, Kamchatka crab is subject to industrial fishing. But its population is recovering very slowly, so measures are currently being taken to breed it in artificial conditions. The lifespan of Kamchatka crab is up to 25 years.
One of the most beautiful crabs in the world is the red rock crab with a bright orange and red shell, often studded with bluish or golden dots. These crabs can be observed in the Galapagos Islands near Ecuador. They are shy and disappear at the slightest danger.
The most famous of the crabs, the marbled crab, lives in underwater rocks, along which it moves surprisingly quickly.
The velvet swimming crab got its name because its body is covered with delicate velvety hairs. This crab is often found off the coast of Great Britain. Although its body diameter rarely reaches 10 cm, this crab is known for its aggressiveness. If, for example, another crab invades its domain, the velvet crab enters into a fight with it and begins to strike with its claws. He usually wins this battle.
The spider crab gets its name from its long, thin legs. It skillfully camouflages itself and often allows algae and sea sponges to grow on its back - this makes it easier for it to blend into its environment.
The green crab is unusual in that it can both swim in the water and crawl along the seabed. He has very powerful claws, and he is capable of painfully pinching any stranger who invades his domain - even a person. Green crabs can be found under boulders and in rock crevices. The color of its body can be either green or reddish-brown.
The xantho crab is found in many tropical regions. This is a land crab; it cannot swim. Plus, he can't breathe underwater. Therefore, it lives in sand dunes above the high tide line. Feeling threatened, he quickly runs across the dunes to safety.
The inhabitants of Kiritimati Island (Christmas Island) eventually came to terms with the invasions of land red crabs. Every year, millions of them leave the forest and run to breed in the sea. Sticking their claws forward, they storm roads, houses, shops, beaches. Nothing can stop them. They even crawl in bed!
The beckoning crab uses the characteristic fiddler-like movements of its huge claw to attract females. He threatens his opponents with the same “fist”, but rarely fights.
For those who saw Kamchatka crabs for the first time in their lives, these animals make a great impression.
In terms of its size, the Kamchatka crab is an outstanding representative not only of decapods, but also of all crustaceans. The characteristic structural features of crustaceans, reproduced in the Kamchatka crab on a large scale, are strikingly striking even at the most superficial glance at this animal.
The width of the shell of the average male Kamchatka crab is about 16 centimeters, the span of its legs is almost 1 meter, and its weight exceeds 2 kilograms. The largest specimens reach 25 centimeters in carapace width, one and a half meters in leg span and 7 kilograms in weight.
The body of the Kamchatka crab consists of a cephalothorax, covered with a common shell, and a belly, folded under the cephalothorax. Therefore, if you look at a crab from above, only its shell and legs are visible. A powerful shell with large sharp spikes reliably protects the animal and, in addition, serves as a support for the muscles. The shell, like that of the crayfish, fuses with the body only on the back, and on the sides it lags behind the walls of the body and hangs down like the sides of a jacket, covering the gills. The gills in the resulting cavities are protected from damage and at the same time are easily washed with water. In front of the cephalothorax are attached two pairs of antennae, eyes on stalks, jaws and legs. The front edge of the shell is armed with a sharp outgrowth that protects the eyes.
The abdomen of the crab, always tucked under the cephalothorax, in females bears special appendages for bearing eggs. The abdomen contains the intestines and internal genital organs. The first pair of crab legs is armed with powerful claws, the next three pairs are used for movement, and the last pair of reduced legs is always under the shell and is used for cleaning the gills. The muscles of the walking legs are very well developed.
What do Kamchatka crabs eat?
Kamchatka crabs are predators. They eat marine bottom polychaetes, mollusks, amphipods, echinoderms, small sea acorns and other bottom animals. The crabs tear their prey with their claws and, using their legs and jaws, crush, grind and send it into their mouths. The right - large - claw is used to crush shells of mollusks and skeletons of sea urchins. With its left claw, the crab can tear only soft prey. Very interesting experiments were carried out to find out what sense crabs are guided by in their search for prey. Food was lowered into a large aquarium where Kamchatka crabs were kept. The animal immediately reacted to the smell with characteristic movements of the antennae and began searching for prey. The crab cannot determine the direction to the prey by smell, so it begins to move slowly, feeling the bottom with the ends of its claws. The crab lowers its claws vertically downwards and, touching the ground with the ends of its claws, quickly opens and closes them, as if snapping scissors, to see if anything gets caught. These probing movements are very energetic and "nervous".
The crab searches blindly, describing the most incredible loops along the bottom of the pool. As it approaches the feeder, when the smell of food intensifies, the crab becomes very excited and probes the bottom with its claws even more often. However, even in close proximity to the food (for example, at a distance of 1 centimeter from the end of the claws to the food), the crab repeatedly misses and moves away from it again. This suggests that the crab's sense of smell and vision are poor helpers, and it finds its prey only through touch.
Finally, the crab probes for food with the tip of its claw and quickly grabs it with one claw or both at once. In search of prey, the animals lost an unusually large amount of time, traveling an unnecessary long distance.
Kamchatka crabs spend their entire long lives wandering, repeating the same route every year. The Kamchatka crab is an exclusively running animal and is completely unsuited to either swimming or burrowing into the ground. The crab cannot burrow, because then its open gills can become clogged with silt. Powerfully developed leg muscles allow you to cover long distances. The crab runs both forward and sideways, alternately throwing out and bending its walking legs. The claws of the feet act like pegs stuck into the ground. The body is supported by weight when walking. The speed of movement of Kamchatka crabs in a straight line reaches 2 kilometers per hour. However, the crab usually moves in zigzags, and the distance it travels per day does not exceed 10-13 kilometers. Individual crabs wander in different directions, and the speed of the entire school is only 2-4 kilometers per day. Crab shoals move throughout the year within their migratory area. The size of such areas for one school is almost 200 kilometers. Some crabs stray from their schools and move to schools in neighboring areas. The reason for such transitions is strong competition for food. Animals often move to areas where fishing is more active. There, the number of crabs drops significantly due to fishing, and competition for food decreases.
Where do Kamchatka crabs winter?
The wintering grounds of crabs are located quite far from the coast at depths of 110 to 200 meters. In fact, the crab does not hibernate, but continues to lead the same active lifestyle in winter as in summer. The move to depth is explained by lower water temperatures in shallow waters and the formation of ice. In the spring, when the bays of the sea are cleared of ice, the crabs move to shallower areas. During this period, males and females of the king crab stay in separate herds and move to the shore in parallel paths. Female crabs carry eggs on their abdominal legs, which have been developing since last year, and halfway through the adult crabs' journey to the shore, a mass hatching of larvae occurs. The fully developed crab embryos in the eggs, whose translucent eyes gave them the name “caviar with eyes,” tear the shells of the eggs into two halves and float up into the water column.
Reproduction of Kamchatka crabs
About a month after the start of migration, schools of males and females meet in shallow waters and mix. The mating period begins. The females at this time look very unpresentable: a dirty shell overgrown with barnacle shells, empty egg shells on the abdominal legs. Nevertheless, the males choose their mates and clamp the claws of the females with their claws. Couples can remain in this “handshake” position for 3 to 7 days. Then the males help the females molt by pulling off the contaminated old shell from them, and attach spermatophores to the bases of the third pair of walking legs of the female. After this, the partners separate. After some time, the female lays eggs on her abdominal legs, which are fertilized from the spermatophore and which the female carries on herself until next spring.
After mating, the schools of females and males again migrate separately, now the crabs go in search of food and feed all summer. Before the summer migration, the males molt, but in complete solitude, hiding among the underwater rocks. During the feeding period, crab schools gradually move from one field to another at an average speed of about 4 kilometers per day, destroying a significant number of bottom animals.
Where do Kamchatka crabs live?
The largest quantity of Kamchatka crab, as its name suggests, is found off the coast of Kamchatka, as well as in Primorye. Its distribution area goes from Posiet Bay through the northern part of the Sea of Japan, through the Sea of Okhotsk and most of the Bering Sea along the Aleutian Islands to the Pacific coast of Canada.
From a zoological point of view, crabs and crayfish belong to the same species. These animals have their own categories of definition and their own hierarchy. And among them there are also giants, which is what king crab, which, despite the name, is considered one of the
Appearance of Kamchatka crab
The appearance of the king crab is indeed very similar to others, but still the animal belongs to the craboids and is distinguished primarily by its reduced fifth pair of legs.
This is one of the largest representatives of its species, belonging to the Lithodidae family. Size adult Kamchatka crab the male reaches 25 cm in cephalothorax width and 150 cm in leg span, with a weight of 7.5 kg. Females are smaller, weighing about 4.3 kg.
The body of the crab consists of a cephalothorax, located under a common shell, and an abdomen. The abdomen, or abdomen, is tucked under the chest. The shell in the area of the heart and stomach is equipped with sharp spines, of which there are 6 above the heart and 11 above the stomach.
Pictured is Kamchatka crab
Thus, it protects the soft body of the crayfish, and at the same time serves as a support for the muscles, since the animal does not have a skeleton. There are gills on the sides of the shell.
On the front of the shell there are protruding growths that protect the eyes. The entire nerve cord is located on the lower side of the body. The stomach is located at the head of the body, and the heart at the back.
Kamchatka crab has five pairs limbs, four of which are walking, and the fifth is used for cleaning the gills. Kamchatka crab claws each has its own purpose - with the right it breaks hard shells and crushes hedgehogs, while with the left it cuts softer food.
The female can be distinguished by the more round structure of the abdomen, which in the male is almost triangular. The color of the crab's body and legs is red-brown above and yellowish below. There are purple spots on the sides. Some individuals are brighter colored, appearance Kamchatka crab can be assessed by photo.
Habitat of the Kamchatka crab
This large animal lives in many seas. The main range is in the Far Eastern region and the northern regions of the seas washing it. This is how the crab lives in the Sea of Japan, Okhotsk, and Bering. Inhabits Bristol Bay. The range is concentrated near the Shantar and Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and most of all in Kamchatka.
Kamchatka crab was induced into the Barents Sea. This process was long and complex, starting theoretically back in 1932. Only in 1960 was it possible for the first time to transport adult individuals from the Far East.
Between 1961 and 1969, the bulk of crabs were imported, mainly using air transport. And in 1974, crab was caught for the first time in the Barents Sea. Since 1977, these animals began to be caught off the coast of Norway.
At the moment, the population has grown greatly, the crab has spread along the coast of Norway to the southwest, as well as north to Spitsbergen. In 2006, the crab population in the Barents Sea was estimated at 100 million individuals. The crab lives at a depth of 5 to 250 meters, on a flat sandy or muddy bottom.
Lifestyle of the Kamchatka crab
The Kamchatka crab leads a fairly active lifestyle; it constantly migrates. But his path is always built along the same route. Travel speed is up to 1.8 km/h. Crabs walk forward or sideways. They do not know how to burrow into the ground.
In the photo there is a blue Kamchatka crab
During cold periods, the crab goes deep to the bottom, dropping to 200-270 meters. With the arrival of heat, it rises to the warm upper layers of water. Females and juveniles live in shallow water, while males move a little deeper, where there is more food.
Once a year, an adult Kamchatka crab molts, shedding its old shell. By the time the old cover disappears, a new, still soft, shell is already growing under it. The molting process takes about three days, during which the crab does not like to be seen and hides in holes and rock crevices. “Naked” females are guarded by males.
Molting for the “stronger sex” takes place later, around May, when the water temperature reaches 2-7 C⁰. In addition to the chitinous cover of the animal, the outer membranes of the heart, stomach, esophagus and tendons also change. Thus, the animal is almost completely renewed every year and gains new mass.
Young animals molt frequently - up to 12 times in the first year of life, 6-7 times in the second year and then only twice. After reaching the age of nine years, crabs become adults and molt only once a year, and old 13-year-old individuals only molt once every two years.
Nutrition of Kamchatka crab
The Kamchatka crab feeds on bottom inhabitants: sea, various, starfish, small fish, plankton, arrows, etc. The Kamchatka crab is an almost omnivorous predator.
Young individuals (fingerlings) feed on hydroids. Using the right claw, the crab extracts soft meat from hard shells and shells, and eats food with the left claw.
Commercial species of crabs
In the Far Eastern seas there are many species of crabs available for catching. In those parts you can buy Kamchatka crab or anyone else.
The Baird's snow crab is a smaller species and can sometimes mate and produce hybrids with the Opilio snow crab. These species weigh up to approximately 1 kg. and have a caracapus size of about 15 cm. The red snow crab lives in the Sea of Japan. This is a small animal on average 10-15 cm. Named for its bright scarlet color.
Prices on Kamchatka crab vary, you can buy a whole crab, live or frozen. There is an opportunity to purchase phalanges of Kamchatka crab, claws - in shell and without, meat and various ready-made dishes from it. The cost at catch sites is significantly lower than when taking into account delivery to the regions. The price of a live crab is about 10,000 rubles.
Kamchatka crab meat It is very valuable for the whole body due to the presence of vitamins and microelements in it. It is good for vision, strengthening the cardiovascular system and generally improving the condition of the body.
Reproduction and life expectancy of the Kamchatka crab
During spring migration, females carry eggs with embryos on their abdominal legs, and their ovaries contain a new portion of unfertilized eggs. On the way to shallow water, larvae hatch from the outer eggs.
Then the females and males meet, and molting occurs. The male helps the female get rid of the old shell, and when this happens, he attaches a ribbon of spermatophores to her walking legs, after which he goes to the depths to feed.
The female spawns eggs and fluid to activate spermatophores. The number of eggs reaches 300 thousand. The eggs are attached to the female's abdominal legs, which she constantly moves, washing the eggs with fresh water. During the warm season, the eggs develop, but freeze in the winter and growth is activated again only in the spring, during the period of migration and warming of the water.
The photo shows the claws of a Kamchatka crab
The hatched larvae do not at all resemble crabs - they are oblong creatures with a long abdomen, without legs. For about two months, the larvae are carried along the seas by currents, during which time they manage to molt four times.
Then they sink to the bottom, molt for the fifth time and only then acquire legs, a shell, and their abdomen becomes much shorter. After another 20 days, the larva molts again and this continues throughout the summer and autumn.
Animals grow quickly, becoming more and more similar to their parents with each molt. For the first 5-7 years, crabs live in one place and only then begin to migrate. At the eighth year of life, female crabs become sexually mature, and at 10 years old, males are also ready to reproduce. Kamchatka crab lives for a very long time - about 15-20 years.
The order of decapod crustaceans includes 93 families, the “members” of which number more than 6,793 species. Among them there are edible and poisonous, useful for humans and real pests, very tiny and huge. There are also types of crabs that are attractive due to their unusual nature. Let's look at the most interesting and significant representatives of this order.
Domestic fauna
The blue crab, which lives in the seas of the Far East, is one of the most valuable commercial crustaceans. Its dimensions are comparable to Kamchatka - the width of the carapace can reach 24 centimeters, and the weight is 5 kilograms. The blue crab got its name from the spots of the corresponding color located on the sides. In this case, the general color is red-brown above, and yellowish or orange-yellow below. It is noteworthy that the blue crab living in the Sea of Okhotsk has a brighter color than the inhabitant of the Bering Sea.
Another interesting feature of the population of the northeastern Sea of Okhotsk is two generations that reproduce in odd and even years. In this case, females lay eggs once every 2 years. The blue crab is notable for its ability to withstand zero water temperatures. He feels most comfortable at 2.5-3ºС. The blue crab lives approximately 22-24 years. In winter it goes to a depth of up to 400 meters, in summer it moves to shallower, fifty-meter depths. The crab's molting does not depend on the time of year - young individuals change their shells monthly.
The crustaceans living in the Black Sea are no less interesting. They have no commercial significance, but they deserve attention:
Continuing the topic of unusual types of crustaceans, let's talk about the strangest inhabitants of the sea and land.
Bizarre exotica
The Chinese mitten crab was brought to Europe from the Yellow Sea. Its name fully corresponds to its appearance - the claws are covered with thick dark gray hairs. The seven-centimeter shell itself is olive or light brown. The Japanese variety is darker in color. The reputation of shaggy crabs is greatly damaged by the fact that they carry a dangerous disease - the crayfish plague. In addition, this furry-armed “vandal” can go far into rivers and destroy dams with its burrows. But Chinese crab also has its advantages - in its historical homeland it is considered a delicacy.
Funny coconut crabs are least similar to members of their family in both appearance and behavior. They received another name, palm thief, for their manner of collecting shiny objects and hiding them in their hole. By the way, only young individuals, up to 5 years old, lead a marine lifestyle. For the remaining half a century, the palm thief lives and feeds on land. The diet includes coconuts, fruits and even small rodents, because the size of an adult individual reaches 40 centimeters. It reaches its maximum length by the age of 38, stops molting and does not change its spectacular multi-colored color until the end of its life. During the day, the palm thief hides in a shelter, going for prey in the cool part of the day.
Aquarium pets
The unpretentious Dutch crab is perfect for keeping in a community aquarium with fish. Its discreet appearance - up to 3 centimeters in size and a light brown shell with dark specks - is more than compensated for by its ease of care and breeding. Therefore, the Dutch crab is recommended for beginner aquarists. The only important things are good aeration, water temperature 20-25ºС and a balanced diet.
The king crab also does not need land; it can climb onto a stone, but does so reluctantly. Another name - leopard or panther - it received for its spectacular appearance. Chocolate specks are scattered throughout the five-centimeter carapace and beige legs. His company is suitable for Pisces. But a frog will not get along with it - a static amphibian will be uncomfortable with an active crustacean. Keeping conditions: t22-28º with neutral acidity and fairly high hardness.
Crustaceans are omnivores; in nature, they play the role of orderlies in the coastal zone. By the way, scientists have found that these creatures, just like humans, can be left-handed or right-handed. Moreover, the number of the latter is also much larger. The truth of this statement can be verified by observing them in an aquarium or natural habitat.
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