You might be thinking, "That's scary. I'll stick to my chicken nuggets." But here is the fun part: these crabs are the "gentle giants" of the ocean. They are not aggressive.
They are like the golden retrievers of the deep sea. They waddle along the ocean floor, picking up scraps and dead things, acting as the ocean's cleanup crew. They are not hunting for your toes.
Japanese spider crab Big Daddy name recorded in Guinness World Records
Scientists discovered that one of these big fellas, another record-breaker, could crack a coconut with his claws. That is a level of strength you only see in bodybuilding competitions or your dad trying to open a jar of pickles.
A Comparison You’ll Remember
Let’s do a quick visual. The average human is about 5 to 6 feet tall. A car is about 6 to 7 feet wide.
Now, picture a crab with legs spanning 12 feet. If he stood up (which they often don't), his "shoulders" would be at your waist, but his arms would be touching the walls on both sides of a narrow hallway.
Walking past one of these in an aquarium is like walking past a spider the size of a Great Dane. It makes that spider you saw in the basement last week look like a cute little dust bunny.
