King Crab

king crab: see crab; horseshoe crab.

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king crab

 or Alaskan king crab or Japanese crab

Marine decapod (Paralithodes camtschatica), an edible crab. It is found in the shallow waters off Japan and along the Alaska coast; it also inhabits the Bering Sea. One of the largest crabs, it often weighs 10 lbs (4.5 kg) or more. Its size and tasty flesh make it a valued food, and large numbers are fished commercially each year.

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King Crab 

(Paralithodes camtschatica), an invertebrate of the family Lithodidae of the order Decapoda. Outwardly it resembles the crab, but actually it is closer to the hermit crab (family Paguridae). The cephalothoracic shell is heart-shaped and equipped with spikes. The abdomen is folded up under the céphalothorax (as in true crabs) and is covered with numerous plates placed in rows lengthwise; the females have asymmetrically placed plates. The width of the céphalothorax in large males reaches 25 cm, the legs extend to 1.5 m, and the weight reaches 7 kg. The females are smaller. The king crab lives in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk and in southern parts of the Bering Sea. It makes regular migrations. Particularly large numbers are found on the western shore of Kamchatka, where the most intensive exploitation is also concentrated. Only the muscles of the legs are used for food.

REFERENCES

Ivanov, A. V. Promyslovye vodnye bespozvonochnye. Moscow, 1955. Pages 91–112.
Zhizn’zhivotnykh, vol. 2. Moscow, 1968. Pages 527–29.