Walking Legs

[jime]

Saw a big crab on top of a seafood store with 4 walking legs. Ask around and was surprised how many crab eaters didn't know the correct number. Answered varied from 2 to 8. About half the answers were correct. I know I'm itching to get started.

[rgminer]

Crabs are just water borne insects. Insects have 8 legs. 2 of the crabs legs have evolved to be swimmers, so a blue crab has 6 walking legs and 2 swimmers. There are serveral land insects that resemble crabs and lobsters. There are crabs that live mostly on the land. Cuba was full of very large green crabs that lived on the land and would wlak up to people and pinch them with their claws...nasty things...

Yeah I got the "bug" real bad too..pun intended...

[Dae]

Land crabs = Spiders

- Dae

[Slipsinker]

Back in the early 80's my company sent me to Puerto Rico for 3 yrs and I was amazed at the number of land crabs there were. We would gather up a few dz., put them in a box and feed them corn meal for a day or two - sort of cleaned them out. I brought a crab steamer with me and pretty well fixed prepared them as we do. Not bad but best used in salads and crab cakes. Here's what they looked like.



Oh, the reason for taking the crab steamers with me was for the spiny lobsters that I would catch. I'd just snorkle in about 10' over some coral and they were there for the pickin'. I think you were allowed 10 per day. They weren't big (8" - 10") but they sure taste good. Here's a pic of a few.



Damn the was a fun 3 yrs.[grin] Sorry for hijacking the thread.

[jime]

I saw a mess of those land crabs in Cozumel 2 weeks ago. I was on a scooter traveling along dirt roads. Those crabs would see me coming and hide in the bushes. Big claws.

[bogman]

Lobsters (Decapoda) have ten legs!