A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Metacarcinus magister
These are two Dungiess mating. They live between 30' and 80'. Dungeness crabs have a wide, long, hard shell, which they must periodically moult to grow; this process is called ecdysis. They have five pairs of legs, which are similarly armoured, the foremost pair of which ends in claws the crab uses both as defense and to tear apart large food items. The crab uses its smaller appendages to pass the food particles into its mouth. Once inside the crab's stomach, food is further digested by the "gastric mill", a collection of tooth-like structures. M. magister prefers to eat clams, other crustaceans and small fish, but is also an effective scavenger. Dungeness crabs can bury themselves completely in the sand if threatened. Which I have a video for but will update later.
The Dungeness crab is named after Dungeness, Washington. Its only location.
1 Comment
Moved to 'Arthropods' category.