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They go by many names: blue, red, hermit and even "Sebastian" (from Disney's The Little Mermaid.) They're crabs, nature's creepy, crawly crustaceans. There are about 5,000 species of crabs, ranging from the smallest, the pea crab, which lives inside oyster shells, to the largest, the Japanese spider crab, which can reach 12 feet from leg tip to leg tip.
So what makes a crab a crab? Well, first of all, crabs belong to a group of animals called crustaceans. Most of them live in the ocean, but some also live on land. All crabs have ten legs and walk sideways. And unlike humans, a crab's skeleton (called an exoskeleton) is on the outside of its body. This hard shell of a crab is its "skin."
Chances are you've heard of "hard shell" crabs and "soft shell" crabs. But do you know the difference? To grow, crabs have to shed their old shells and grow new ones. A crab that has just discarded its shell is called a soft shell crab. But a shell isn't the only thing that a crab can re-grow; if it loses a claw, another one will grow in its place.
Now, if you're into crabs and you want to see something really amazing, take a trip to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. It's the only place on Earth where you can find tons of crabs on the move! When the rainy season starts, millions of red crabs come out of their burrows from the forest and start their annual mating migration down to the sea. Imagine waking up and finding crabs crawling around your bedroom floor or scurrying down the hallway at your school! Well, it happens on Christmas Island. During their amazing march, the crabs go through towns, across highways, and over high cliffs until they reach the ocean.
Unfortunately for the crabs, every year about a million of them get run over by cars and trucks while crossing the streets. While that may seem like a lot, there are up to 99 million others that make it to the ocean! So it's no wonder that a species that has been around for millions of years is sure to be around for millions more. Crabs have outlived dinosaurs, and they will no doubt outlive us!
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