The Amazing and Gigantic Japanese Spider Crab
The Japanese Spider Crab, also known as the tall footed crab, is quite an amazing species. Found in waters of The Pacific Ocean originally in 1836, along the coast of Japan, these crabs have legs that have known to span about 13 feet in length! They have incredibly long life spans when they are not taken up by fishermen’s nets and the occasional predator that is after them. These giant crabs have been found on land but generally spends its days scurrying along the oceans floor at depths of 300 to 400 meters looking for food is where they spend their days, looking for dead organisms or living kelp to feed off of.
These giant crabs are dark orange and tan in color and never usually try and camouflage themselves from predators and other larger animals looking for a meal. They have such long legs that they mostly look like a fierce competitor. Though their claws are incredible strong and sharp, their leg joints are incredibly weak making them an easy target if in a real underwater struggle.
Description
The Japanese Spider Crab has the longest leg span of an arthropod. With a span measuring, at the largest found, 12 feet from claw to claw. Typically fishermen and others find on average 4 feet from claw to claw. But due to the long life span that they are known to have, it is possible to find more of them with giant spanning legs deep within the oceans floors. There are both male and female, each having their own characteristics. The male’s main front claws are longer than those of the females, distinguishing them from one another.
They have tan or dark orange bodies, even some with a mix of the two colors, with no need to truly camoflauge themselves from predators. They have 8 legs like that of a traditional land spider, yet amazingly can survive with only 3 if left with that many due to fights and injuries that occur under the oceans floor. But, during their molting period they are able to regenerate legs and revive their bodies with new limbs.
Reproduction
There are males and females in the Japanese Spider Crab family, which makes reproduction in the wild possible. The males are larger with larger claws then the females, yet the females have a larger body, which provides adequate space for eggs. Sperm is held in a spermatophore, which is then transferred to the females through the second abdominal appendages. She then carries them around and as the eggs fertilizes the cement to her second abdominal appendages. Once they are born, unlike human babies who take after their parents, Japanese Spider Crabs offspring look nothing like their parents.
They generally live in ocean depths fairly deep, yet during the reproduction stages, they have been seen at depths of 50 meters deep. Fertilization takes place after the molting period for the female species, and the eggs are generally laid after mating.
More on Japanese Spider Crabs
Japanese Spider Crabs are known to be a delicacy all around the world not just in the local Japanese restaurants. They have been known to be fished and shipped to high class restaurants all over the world. They have succulent white meat with a wonderful taste, just like the Alaskan king crab. They are usually set in a brine of cold water which almost inoculates them into hibernation, making their metabolism slow down during the boiling. They are boiled for approximately 15 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the crab.
Due to the dwindling population of the Japanese Spider Crab, they have banned all fishing and catching of their species during the molting and reproduction phases. This allows the crabs to reproduce and hopefully repopulate the ocean waters giving their species a chance to thrive. These crabs are enormous in size and have been found to live to 100 years in age, which is why they have also been described as a living fossil. These crabs are enormous in size and add a true sense of how amazing the creatures on the oceans floor are. These living fossils provide the ocean with an amazing creature that brings educational learning to all around them with the research that is currently being done on them to get a greater sense of their worth.
Having found in the same rocky shores or coast in the West, rock crab is most of the time associated with its two other same, the Dungeness crab and the Red Pacific crab. The popularity of one carries the name of the others. That is why when you cook rock crab meat; imagine also that you are doing the same with the Dungeness crab meat as well as the red crab meat.
The rock crab is a big family of the crabs found in the coast of North America that can reach as far as South Carolina. While other female crabs produce thousands of eggs, a female kind of this crab can produce as much as half a million eggs. Aside from the two above mentioned, the peekytoes crab is also part of the specie family. Many say that this kind of crab is a gentle one. However, many confess that this deceiving harmless look only apply when it is sleeping. Otherwise, it can be the scariest monster you have ever encountered. One trivia about it is that it is more active during the day than night.
The name peekytoes is a product of the attempt of some entrepreneur years ago to make the crab meat popular. Not long after, the objective has attained. Peekytoes is now considered as one of the unique names, if not the most unique one, a crab has named. The witty name is said to describe the sharp claws the crab has. Moreover, other references claim that peekytoes crab meat has become popular during the latter part of the 90s. Peekytoes grow slowly that is why they peekytoes meat lovers worry that they will not have a taste of them in the coming years. Thus this native crab is sold in the markets at a quite expensive price.
Meanwhile, the Dungeness crab sometimes referred to as Cancer magister acquired its name in a place in Washington State named, obviously, Dungeness. It is pink in colour, 6 inches long, and weighs about 4 pounds.
When purchasing a rock crab, you can either order from the online sites or go personally to the seafood stores. While browsing online stores give you the convenience to save time, having a personal check on the crabs you are going to eat allows you to examine the freshness. Pre-cooked frozen crabs are frequently bought than the thawed so there is not much to know onn how to cook crab legs meaning you have no reason to not try. Frozen crabs are believed to have retained the freshness of the crab meat since they have kept refrigerated. For some who want to experience to cook the rock crab fresh from the sea, you can always contact some fishermen near you. Others really find time to go fishing with their trap and cage in order to catch live crabs.
Like the online crab shopping, you can also try to consult the internet for some best recipes on how to cook rock crab meat or Dungeness crab meat in various mouth-watering dishes. You will never end up unproductive as there are many personal blogs and discussion fora that talk about cooking crab meat.