Who am I?
Giant spider crab
How can you tell it’s me?
I’m the biggest crustacean in Port Phillip Bay; I’m mostly orange with long legs and a hard, rough carapace. Algae and sponges on my back sometimes help me blend into my environment
Where is the best place to find me?
I live a rather solitary life in the deeper parts of Port Phillip Bay but I aggregate in shallow waters in different parts of the Bay (e.g. St Leonards, Blairgowrie, Rye) at certain times of year. If you have a thick enough suit to brave the cold waters of Port Phillip Bay at the end of Autumn, you can find me at Rye or Blairgowrie, with thousands of my friends. We seek safety in numbers as we need to get rid of our carapace to grow.
Why am I important for Port Phillip Bay?
The spider crab aggregations provide a lot of food for other marine creatures. Big rays, Port Jackson sharks and more love a soft, freshly moulted crabs, but smaller critters such as shrimps and sea stars also feast on bits of flesh attached to the old carapaces and on the crabs that are not luck enough to make it through the adventure
How can you help understand me better?
You can report your sightings (including date, time, number of crabs, location and depth) on the “Spider Crabs Melbourne” Facebook page and help track the crabs’ movements.
Photographer and links – PT Hirschfield
