What does it look like?
A Flower Crab has eight legs and two pincers. Its last pair
of legs is shaped like paddles, helping it to swim well. The male Flower Crabs are very different from the female
ones. The male ones have longer pincers
than the female ones. Their pincers can be two or three times longer than the
width of their bodies. Males are a lot more eye-catching than the females. Male
Flower Crabs have blue markings and attractive patterns on their bodies. Female
Flower Crabs have dull green and brown bodies. (By Group 1)
Where
does it live?
It can be found on many of our shores. It likes to live in shallow waters with muddy
or sandy seabeds. It cannot live long out of water.
What
does it eat?
It mostly eats slow-moving
creatures found at the bottom of the sea, such as snails, clams and worms. It may also eat fish, shrimp and other
smaller crabs.
Did you know?
It
is not easy to spot a Flower Crab. When it senses danger or gets trapped in a
pool of water at low tide, it buries itself in sand or mud. Smaller Flower
Crabs hide among seagrass and seaweed.
When Flower Crabs are in danger, they
spread out their pincers. The red tips on their pincers serve as a warning to
other animals that want to eat it. They use their pincers to fight. Their hard
shells that are covered in spines also protect them from danger.
Like many other crabs, the Flower Crab
can only mate right after the female crab sheds her exoskeleton, before her new
one hardens. Do you know why the male Flower Crab is often seen holding onto
the female? He is waiting for the chance to mate and is preventing other males
from mating with her.
