DETAILS
- Discipline
NH: ZOOLOGY: INVERTEBRATES: CRUSTACEANS (CRABS, LOBSTER, SHRIMP, WOODLICE)
- Scientific Name
Macrocheira kaempferi (Temminck, 1836)
- Common Name
Japanese Spider Crab
- Place Collected
Japanese Seas (place collected)
- Age
adult
- Form
dried
- Dimensions
overall: 950 x 1600 x 250 mm
- Description
-
This giant Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi, is the biggest invertebrate in the collections and also the biggest type of crab in the world. The front pair of pincers or chelipeds in a full grown adult male can be up to 3.69 metres long. The females however have smaller chelipeds but a slightly larger abdomen.
These crabs were greatly admired in Victorian times and many of the older natural history collections around the country have one in their collections. This is an important specimen as it is still in good condition and has had a long history of being displayed in Kelvingrove Museum. These days they are found in aquariums around the world as their ‘alien’ appearance makes them very popular with visitors.
Rather than lying flat, like the one on display, in life they hold their bodies upright and walk slowly across the seabed looking for food. These crabs are omnivores and they have been reported to feed on algae, molluscs and carrion such as dead fish.
This species is only found in the deep seas around Japan where it is fished and eaten as a delicacy. There are threatened by over-fishing but regulations have been brought in to control the industry. - ID Number
1907.48
- Location
In storage
- Terms