Japanese Spider Crab (Macrocheira kaempferi)
The size of the Japanese spider crab makes it a weird animal. It is the largest living crab in the world. The carapace of the Japanese spider crab is 12 inches wide, but its legs can grow up to 13 feet long. It has an average weight of 20 kg and can live up to 100 years old.
The legs keep growing even when the crab reaches adulthood. They have ten long legs, eight walking legs, and two chelipids. Chelipeds are crab legs with claws. In the male crab, chelipeds are longer than its walking legs, while the female crab’s are shorter than its walking legs.
You can find these crabs on Japan’s Pacific Coast. They prefer sandy and rocky continental slopes. Japanese spider crabs are scavengers of the ocean. They spend most of their time scavenging for decaying fish, invertebrates, and algae on the ocean floor. Also, they are not swimmers. They walk on the ocean floor slowly.
Jumping spiders (Salticidae)
Jumping spiders do not spin webs to catch prey; they jump and pounce on prey instead. With eight eyes, the jumping spider sees in a 360-degree view1. That's what makes them such good hunters.
Some species of jumping spiders are hairy, while others are not. Some exhibit bold colors, while others are brownish. If you check leaf litter, stone clusters, or tree barks, you might find a little jumping spider peeking at you with its big cute eyes.
Spider Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)
Despite its strange appearance—or perhaps because of— the Spider Chrysanthemum is a favourite flower of florists and gardeners alike. Like all other mums, the Spider Chrysanthemum is well-suited for patio or container gardening. To keep your Spider Mums blooming for as long as you can, be sure to remove faded blooms and tightly closed buds (instead of the larger flowers) to encourage new flowering. Another trick to having the biggest, best blooms is to keep them out of direct sunlight while they are flowering. This will not only extend total bloom time, but it will also help the flowers last longer in general.
