By TOSHIYUKI TAKEYA/ Staff Writer
December 8, 2017 at 09:00 JST
Editor's note: This is part of a series of videos offering an up-close perspective on the animal kingdom. A special 360-degree video camera system was set up in zoos and other facilities to show how the animals view their world as they interact.
Also visit our special 360-DEGREE LIVES page (http://t.asahi.com/360lives), where you can watch all the previous videos.
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The large “thing” with a red shell revealed itself in the dimly lit water tank, making crunchy thuds with its long arms as it stomped over the gravel-covered bottom toward the video camera.
It looked like an alien from a sci-fi movie. But in reality it is a Japanese spider crab, one of the world’s largest crustacean arthropods, kept at Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in the city’s Kanazawa Ward.
According to aquarium staffer So Abe, 45, the Japanese spider crab weighs about 10-plus kilograms and reaches up to about three meters when it spreads its arms. The crabs were seen having their tube-like arms entwined with each other, but otherwise they were almost motionless.
But when Abe dropped food such as horse mackerels and squids into the tank, the “king of the deep sea” started moving about as if they immediately smelled the feast. With one of the crabs getting on top of another while searching for food, all the crabs expertly used their big chelipeds to bring food to their mouths.
The Japanese spider crab lives at depths between 150 and 400 meters in the waters around Japan. Because its meat is “watery,” it is said to taste good when steamed. The females have a wide and rounded stomach. A crab shell drawn with a human face is often seen posted at the entrance of “minshuku” inns and other facilities as a charm against evil.
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