Animal Kingdom

Arthropod Phylum: Crustaceans: The shore crab

This is a very common animal which is found on all sea shores and even up river estuaries. The shore crab has a green body and it grows to about 10 cm across. The crab uses its claws mainly for defence or for picking up small pieces of food. It feeds by filtering the water or scavenging dead animals. The larvae of these crabs float in the ocean currents as part of the zooplankton but the adults are not very good swimmers they prefer to walk on the bottom.

Note: The photo shows a velvet swimming crab

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© Paul Billiet, Shirley Burchill, Alan Damon and Deborah James 2009