Whoever was the first man to eat a crab (or a lobster!), was probably very brave, or very hungry or both. If you’ve never seen one before in your life, the last thing you’d think of doing is eating one!

Crabs are so widely scattered all over the world, and have been known to man for such a long time, that we can never find out who was the first to eat crabs and when. Crab probably eaten by people who lived near the sea thousands of years ago. There are crabs off the coasts of Europe, North America, South America, India, Japan, and most of the Pacific Islands, Alaska, and so on.

The crab has a hard shell to protect its back, and is equipped with claws for weapons. But there are more than 1,000 kinds of crabs, so

they Vary quite a bit. The delicious pea crab is less than 25 centimeters and is often found inside the shells of living oysters. The Japanese crab, at the other extreme, may have a body that measures 30 centimeters across, and if you include the legs, it may measure 3.5 meters across.

Most crabs live in salt water, although there are several water species. Though there are crabs that live on land, these always return to the water to lay their eggs.

The crab’s small abdomen is folded under the body. The eyes are on the end of stalks which it can stick out or draw in at will. Crabs have six pairs of jaws, which are kept busy most of the time, since crabs are scavengers, eating whatever they can find. Many of them eat other crabs and small fish; some are vegetarians. The famous robber crabs of the tropics even go so far as to climb coconut trees for the nuts!

All crabs have five pairs of legs. The foremost pair are generally equipped with claws. The rearmost pair are frequently flattened at the ends into paddles for swimming. On land, crabs generally travel side-wise and can go quite rapidly.

By the way, “soft-shell crabs,” which people like to eat, are not crabs with a special kind of soft shell, but crabs whose old’ shell has been shed and whose new shell has not yet hardened.