Crabs are considered to be crustaceans. It is reported that there are over 4,500 described and they are widely known for having very short and projecting tails and abdomens which are hidden in their thorax. There is a variety of crabs and can be found in rivers, deep sea or even in tropical coral reefs, as they are adaptable animals that prosper in a variety of habitats. Here are some of the most incredible crab species.
1. The Flower Moon Crab 
The flower moon crab mostly resides within the tropical waters of Australia and the Indo-Pacific areas. They are mostly inhabited in sandy sea grass surfaces starting from low tides and to a depth of approximately fifteen metres. This species more active in the night and spends most of the day buried under the sea sand. They are distinguished from the other crabs because of their rounded beige to yellow shell which has a pair of extended spines on either side. The flower moon crabs tend to hold their pincers very close to their body as box crabs do. They also look similar to the swimming crabs because of their flattened shell. Despite these, they have flattened limbs as well, with rear leg paddles for their swimming, digging, and burrowing backward.
Their rear limbs do not have fringing hairs as the other crab species and provides it the ability to dig further. 2. The Masked Crab
This small crab has a size of 5 centimetres, making it one of the smallest species. This type of crab is mostly found in the whole North Atlantic Ocean and North Sea, but they have also been found in some parts of the Mediterranean Sea. Its name comes from its patterns on its shell, which create a resemblance of a human face. This species’ most outstanding feature is its two extended antennae. Since these crabs mostly live buried under the surface of the sand, its antennae are helping it to have a breathing tube, which draws oxygenated water down, allowing it thus to breathe and simultaneously hunt underneath the seabed.
This crab mostly hunts down polychaete worms and bivalve mollusks, which are its main source of food.
- The Raspberry Crab
The raspberry crab, which is also commonly named ‘the red leucosiidae crab’ got its name because of its looks. Clearly, this crab really has a raspberry-shape body. This species is commonly found in sea areas of high and low tides. They are reported to be opportunistic carnivorous feeders. This means that their daily diet consists of small invertebrates and several other organic materials. The shell of this little crab has uneven dimension. It has twelve symmetrically arranged bulging nodules around the edges of its shell. This species has also short, strong legs and chelipeds, which are utilised for feeding all the tiny invertebrates and organic material that is found nearby.
They are considered to be a widespread species of crabs. They can be found in very shallow waters throughout the whole Red Sea and in other places as well, such as Mozambique, Mauritius, and India.
- The Gaudy Clown Crab
The gaudy clown crab, although one of the smallest crab species featured on this list, it is undeniably one of the most colourful crabs, making it thus a living walking art. The gaudy clown crab reaches a maximum size of approximately two centimeters. This crab is commonly found in intertidal zones or somewhere near them. More particularly, this crab lives in the rocky areas of the Mexican Gulf’s coral reefs. It is also found in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Atlantic Ocean near southern Brazil. The pattern of their shells has a variety of shapes, but clown crabs have the tendency to be consistent in colour,
having a yellow shell which is covered with orange or red markings and several black outlines scattered with small spots of black and yellow colour.
- The Arrowhead Crab
The slim arrowhead crab has a triangular body that looks like a guitar, which is narrowed down into a lengthened rostrum with jagged edges. This species has long legs which look like a spider’s and can reach up to ten centimetres in length, which is almost three times their body length. Although they seem to be very delicate, the arrowhead crabs have aggressive behaviour and are considered ferocious scavengers when they hunt feather duster worms or bristle worms. Their extremely unique look has made these crabs the most favourite species among marine scientists.
However, they are not considered safe for any reefs or fish because they tend to attack and eat corals, sleeping fish or other fish which move slowly. They are also reported to be extremely territorial in nature, especially with other crabs.
- The Orangutan Crab
This species is considered to be the rock star of the world of crabs. The orangutan crab is a small-shaped spider crab species, or what they called decorator crabs, and they are found throughout the tropical Pacific Ocean area. Most of the times, these are found with several grape or bubble coral species on several protected reef flats. The name of this species originates from their fine red and brown thick hairs beautifying its legs and shell in a way that it resembles the great ape that is found in Borneo and Sumatra. The crabs’ hair is utilised to capture debris and waste and to provide them a vital camouflage from its numerous potential predators.
Since they are spider crabs, they possess longer arms compared to their body shape and have pincers to groom out the food that is collected when using their hair.
- The Pom-Pom Crab
The pom-pom crab, or what is commonly known the boxer crab, is a small crab species which is found in shallow reef areas in the tropical waters of Indo-Pacific Ocean. This is another popular aquarium species, as it is notable for its symbiotic relationship with the sea anemone Triactis producta. These crabs are reported to grasp anemones between their modified front claws which wield them in a way that deters and scares away several predators. The anemones also bite and immobilize several species, which allows these crabs to find easily food. This crab species in unable to be fed directly when they use the anemones and therefore they harvest the accumulated food using their mouthparts.
In exchange for that, the anemones transport themselves and receive a wider variety of food sources. None of these animals is interdependent though. When there are no anemones, these crabs surge for small sponges and several pieces of coral.
- The Japanese Spider Crab
This is the most famous and instantly recognizable crabs. The Japanese spider crab is considered to be the world’s largest crab. They possess the largest leg length of all living arthropod, which is capable of reaching up to four metres. Their shell approximately measures forty centimetres. Despite their magnificent and terrifying size, the Japanese spider crabs are very gentle animals and are not threatening to human life. They are considered to be omnivores, meaning that they consume a variety of plant matter, molluscs, and other crab species together with dead and decaying animals. As can be found in their names, these crabs are found mainly in Japan and other neighbouring parts of the Pacific Ocean, where they live around vents and caves usually in a depth between 50 and 600 metres.
They are also considered to be predated by dedicated fisheries, since their meat is considered as a delicious meal.
- Shame-Faced Crab
The shame-faced crab is a very small crab species which is found throughout the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Their curious name is attributed to their characteristic stance, where they hold their chelipeds very close to their shell to cover their face. Shame-faced crabs tend to hunt in the night, and spend most of the day being buried in the sand with only their eyes, upper shell and claws visible. They have enlarged front claws are utilised for cracking several the shells of their mollusc prey and for digging and hiding themselves into the sand. When they are inactive under the sand, their claws provide an air pocket which allows them to breathe. They are right-handed and use the larger right claw to cut open the shells of dextral snails, their favourite food.
- Teddy Bear Crab
The teddy bear crab is very hairy because of their long, silk-hair coating which covers all of its shell and legs. These hairs are utilised to protect them against potential predators, as it is used as a camouflage for the crab when it is against rocky reef backgrounds and to break up its body outline. Their coating is also used as a net to trap dirt, mud particles, and other bits of waste, which is useful for further enhancing its disguise. These crabs are predominant along low intertidal reefs, as well as in rocky shorelines and areas covered with Sargasso.
They mostly live across the Red Sea, the Indo-Pacific Ocean, but they can also be found in Australia and Japan. The Teddy bear crabs’ diet consists mostly of algae pieces.
- The Velvet Swimming Crab
This attractive crab has bright red eyes. They are covered with very fine hair, which gives them a very velvety texture. However, although beautiful, they are very dangerous and aggressive and they can give to anything surrounding it a very painful nip. Most of them have small size, especially those which are found in the shore, but there are sometimes larger ones that have the size of approximately two human palms. When grabbing these animals, people need to be careful to grab them by the rear of their shell and as far away from the claws as possible.
Their rear legs are flattened in order to give them the ability to swim. Their diet consists of smaller crabs, where they tend to hunt down.
- The Long-legged Spider Crab
As this crab’s name says, this crab species is famous for its very long legs and small body. It possesses a very triangular shell and has really long legs. When it is caught in several fishing boats’ nets or when it is stranded at a low tide, these spider crabs resemble a crumpled up twig. However, when these crabs are situated under water, they tend to swims with a curious manner. This is because when they swim, they tend to make a motion that resembles a bicycle cycle.
They also often tend to place weed and other plants all over their legs and shells in order to camouflage themselves. There are several species of this specific crab, as they are differing in size and abilities.
- The Pea Crab
This crab, as its name suggests, has a shell the size of a pea. This is at least the case for the brown male Pea Crab. This crab species is often seen to swim in estuaries over various mussel beds. It is found in the waters surrounding the United Kingdom and is considered one of the most active swimmers of all the carbs that can be found in Britain. The female of this species though differs substantially from its male counterpart. This is because the female has almost twice the size of the male crabs and they usually have yellow colour with bright red blobs on their soft shell.
The females are hardly able to crawl in the sand and they cannot swim. This is because they do not need to do these because they spend their whole life residing inside in a living mussel shell.
- Spiny Spider Crab
Spiny Spider Crabs have a very large size. They possess a very spiny shell which has lots of bumps and sharp bits. This crab species has a quick growth of size. They can have approximately eighteen centimetres in length when it is measured between its two black eyes and its curved rear end. This is a very large crab in order to be able to live on the shore throughout the whole the year. However, in every June there are several numbers where they regularly coming out when there is a low tide on the southern English Channel coasts, and occasionally smaller in size crabs of this species are washed ashore at other times during the year.
There are also times where larger in size crabs are thrown out by some fishermen. They are commonly sold by fishmongers at the present, but only the meat inside the claws can be eaten.
- Common Hermit Crab
This is a very strange type of crab. This species really looks like a sea snail. It tends to crawl on the floors of many rocky surfaces pool and it possesses two tiny claws. This is because the Hermit Crab tends to take up residence inside the shell of a dead sea snail. The shell is used by the crab in order to have an effective protection for their soft and vulnerable body and is also used as a camouflage to avoid its predators. One of its two claws is larger than the other one. The largest of its two claws is situated on the right side of the crab or on the left when on will see the crab from the front.
Hermit Crabs are commonly found in the tides on several British rocky shores. The larger Hermit Crabs inhabit large shells that come from whelks.
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