Giant crab with 9ft claws arrives in Blackpool
(dBtechno) – Sea life aquatic center in Blackpool has welcomed a new, extra-large resident. A huge Japanese spider crab now calls Blackpool home. With a claw span currently measuring 9 feet (2.7 meters) this crustacean has the potential of reaching a 12 foot (3.6 meters) claw span when he is at full maturity age.
Arriving at Blackpool’s Sea Life Center recently, the male Japanese spider crab was promptly named “Big Daddy” who was a very well-known, legendary wrestler in the area.
According to Digial Spy, Scott Blaker is the aquarium worker that is closely tending to the crabs needs. He is normally petrified of spiders but has taken a liking to “Big Daddy” even though he very closely resembles an arachnid with his long legs.
“It’s one of our most dramatic displays with floor to ceiling windows on two sides and special bubble windows on another,” said Blacker.
“People will be able to stand toe to claw with Big Daddy and really get the measure of him, while youngsters will be able to put their heads in the bubble window and try and get a face-to-face encounter.”
Blaker spends time with him in the tank where the crab is confined due to the fact that he cannot support his own body weight outside of a water habitat although his arms have reached outside of the tank. Overall he seems to love his rather large tank habitat.
According to Practical Fish keeping, the Sea Life Center hopes to have “Big Daddy” live up to his name by eventually mating him with a smaller female crab to procreate.
“We have brought in this full size male to be sure he is mature and we hope he will father some eggs in the future”, said Scott Blacker. “First we will settle the male at his normal cool 9° temperature then after a few weeks we will add a female and slowly raise the temperature of the tank by a few degrees. This will mimic life in the wild where they move to shallower warmer water to breed.
“We hope this will trigger her to lay eggs again. Then we will hopefully get the fertile eggs we need to have a chance at raising the offspring. We’ve had some major breakthroughs in the breeding and rearing difficult species recently, including squid, octopus and weedy seadragons, but this is by far our most ambitious breeding project. Long-term it would be great to be able to give information on how to breed these creatures to reduce the pressure on the wild animals as food.”
“Big Daddy” has the potential to live to be 100 years old.
Sources:
Giant crab with 9ft claws arrives in Blackpool – picture
http://www.digitalspy.com/odd/news/a467465/giant-crab-with-9ft-claws-arrives-in-blackpool-picture.html
Meet the biggest crab in Britain!
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5552
