In this video, we learn about the impressive – and formidable – Japanese spider crab, otherwise known as Macrocheira kaempferi.

While they may look like something from a 1950s sci-fi film, Japanese spider crabs are actually gentle giants. But there’s no getting around it… they really are huge. Of the 60,000 species of crustaceans on Earth, the 10-legged Japanese spider crabs are the largest, spanning up to 3.7m from the tip of one front claw to the other. They’re also one of the world’s largest arthropods – animals with no backbone, external skeletons, and multiple-jointed appendages.

The crabs are mostly found off the southern coasts of the Japanese island of Honshū, from Tokyo Bay to Kagoshima Prefecture. Outlying populations have been found in Iwate Prefecture and off Su-ao in Taiwan. Adults are found at depths ranging over 50-600m.

View the original video here.

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