Page 29 - Super Shark Encyclopedia

Last segments of
swimming legs are
flat like paddles

Armored athlete
The blue swimming crab has especially
large and powerful muscles at the rear
of its body to help work the flat-tipped
back legs. These paddle furiously when A CHANGE OF SHELL
the crab swims. A new shell—thin and papery
at first—grows underneath the
Strong muscles at the old one. The old shell cracks open
base of the leg power and the crab crawls out so its new
it through the water
shell can expand and harden.

Gills pack out the upper part Empty shell
of the crab’s body and take
up oxygen from the seawater

Hard shell is edged with nine
spikes either side of each eye
to protect crab from predators

Mouth
Eyes stand
out on stalks

Males have longer
claws than females

Ridged pincers have
a strong grip and are
used in defense
Three pairs
of pointed
walking legs AMAZING ANATOMY
MOBILE NURSERY
For two weeks, a female crab carries a
spongelike bundle of eggs underneath
Bundle of over a million
her. The eggs contain developing
eggs carried beneath female,
babies. As they eat the yolk, the who can produce two
sponge turns from orange to black. batches of eggs in a season
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