Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-16
SPIDER CRABS.
Queer LOnE-LeEged Creatures That
Are Found in the Oceans Depths.

Queer LOnE-LeEged Creatures That
Are Found in the Oceans Depths.
Mighty little about spider crabs was
known until quite recently. When, few
years ago, the first attempts were made at
dredging for living forms in the depths OIL
the sea, the scoop nets brought up many
crustaceans which astonished the natural
lists. Commonly they were covered with
spines, and many of them seemed TO be
almost wholly composed of legs. one
species, to which the name ferox lithodes,
or "ferocious spider crab," was given, is
the most formdably armed animal in ex-
istence, being so extremely prickly that IT
is a difficult business to handle even a
dead specimen.
Every small boy who has had a chance
to go wading in the shadows of bays and
estuaries near the seashore is familiar
with the plain everyday spider crab. Take
that creature, magnify him largely, fur
nish him with spines some inches in length
and you will have a typical sea SPIDER OF
the depths. You cannot help admirlng his
arms each two feet or more, perhaps, In
length, and provided with claw that is to
all intents and purposes hand. From MS
hiding place beneath a rock or In crevice
the animal is able to reach far out and
grab whatever prey comes near. The arms
look somewhat like the arms of human
skeleton, and they are SO made that
bend from the JOINT at the elbow brings
the claw exactly to the mouth.
The biggest of the known deep sea
spiders is found in Boring sea and else
where in the North Pacific. 1t weighs
about twelve pounds when full grown.
The natives of the Aleutian Islands eat it..
and so do the fur seals. The latter feed
extensively on crabs. though most par
crab which has soft shell and is not a
spider crab.
Another very large species of sea crab,
having a stretch of about three feet, has
been caught at a depth of nearly mile
and half off Cape Cod on the continental
slope The slope of the continent, as it
descends quite precipitously to the floor
of the ocean-its edge is not marked by
the shore line but is far out in the sea
is bathed along a narrow strip by warm
current. On this strip animal life flourishes
abundantly, and from it have been dredged
many new species of crabs, as well as
queer fishes and other creatures. One odd
point about the big spider crab just men
toned is that when an infant it is covered
with spines far longer and more formidable
than those which adorn the adult.
A kind of spider crab found in Japanese
waters is so prickly that it is called the
"rosebush crab" 1t weighs three or four
pounds when of full size. More appro-
priately it might be named the Chestnut
burr" to which it bears a very close re-
semblance. sea spider that belongs in
the neishborhood of Alaska spends it's life
in floating about seaweeds; the casual
observer would mistake the animal itself
for piece of seaweed. Another kind folds
itself up in compact shape, so as to imi-
tate a rock, having no spines. The de-
ception is helped by barnacles, which grow
upon the creature. But the queerest of the
spider crabs is the ''cryptolthodes," which
bears on it's back a shield that wholly con-
ceals it. The shield looks like the shell Of
a mollusk. This protective continuance re-
minds one of the device alleged to be
adopted sometimes by lion hunters in
Africa. The hunter is provided with an
enormous convex shield of rawhide He
throws his spear at the lion, and when
crouches close to the ground. covering
himself with the shield. The lion cannot
get at him because the shield is slippery
and resists his claws. When the hunter
gets chance he jumps up and throws an
other spear, collapsing again at once be-
neath the shield. This is continued until
the lion falls dead or goes away. One is at
liberty to believe this story or not, as he
chooses.