After seeing this photo, do you think it fits the name of "giant killer crab"? The real name of "Giant Killer Crab" is Giant Crab Ganzi, which mainly lives in the underwater depth of150m near Honshu Island, Japan. As the largest crab known in the century and the largest arthropod, it has a terrible shape and size. Among them, the largest one was captured and stored in a museum in the Netherlands!
The length of the two big claws of this giant crab adds up to 3.7 meters, which is comparable to some cars. The weight reaches about 27 kg, which is enough for three or four strong men to eat. However, it is only the largest, but its weight is not. Boston lobster in America is the heaviest arthropod ever recorded, reaching about 40 kg.
The giant crab Crab Ganzi begins to breed every spring when the temperature warms up. As shown in the picture, they collectively migrate from the deep sea to the offshore breeding with a water depth of 50 meters:
After mating, the female crab will lay eggs on the abdominal nodes and hatch. After an incubation period of about 10 days, the larvae can break out of their shells and become tiny flea-like larvae, floating in the sea.
In the next few months, the larvae will be shelled many times before they can get rid of the transformation from flea larvae to young crabs, and the surviving young crabs can return to the deep sea with the big troops. Every time a female crab can ovulate1500,000 eggs, but few of them hatch successfully and become young crabs.
There is nothing that can be done. It is very dangerous for arthropods to shed their shells. If they take off their hard shells, they will be easily attacked by natural enemies. If they are injured during this period, they will be in danger of infection.
However, risks are always accompanied by benefits. When the giant crab Ganzi is an adult, every time it takes off its shell, its legs will become longer and its head and breastplate will become bigger. It has been recorded in experiments that a giant crab with a head and breastplate width of 12.8 cm actually increased its head and breastplate width by about 15 cm, an increase of about 22% after more than 100 minutes of shelling.
When the head breastplate reaches a certain width, it will stop growing, and the growth after shelling will mainly become the thigh. The older you get, the longer your legs will be, and your life will be over 50 years old. Therefore, the old giant crab Crab Ganzi has long legs.
Looking at such a pair of long legs, even I envy it, and this "killer crab" that looks fierce is actually very gentle.