The beach crab is the most common crab in Denmark. It has ten legs, where the front leg pair is designed for two heavy duty axles, that it uses to catch and hold the prey while using the other four legs to move sideways. The beach crab is night active and it hides during the day. If it cannot find a hide, it digs into the bottom so that only the head and the axles protrude. When darkness drops, the beach crab goes hunting. The back of the beach crab is almost completely smooth and trapezoidal with a slight taper towards the rear. The beach crab, like the other crustaceans, does not have an internal skeleton, but on the other hand a skin skeleton that protects the crab from enemies. That is, when the crab grows, the skull becomes too small, so the crab changes the whole shell to become larger and this can happen several times a year.
Did you know that:
It is easy to see the difference between male and female crabs by looking at the flat triangular tail, which is often folded under the body. The female’s tail is wider, more rounded and consists of more than three joints, while the male’s tail is narrower, more pointed and consists of only 3 joints.
