Bah-Ram-Ewe

It's been a while since we've had a Crabday, so this week we're going down on the farm! Let's wrangle up the

Sheep Crab

Loxorhynchus grandis

(picture from here)

No, not a crab that herds sheep, but that's what I thought too (no, I didn't).

a SHEEP crab with a sea HARE - can you imagine the stew?!?

Sheep crabs are big spider crabs, being the largest of California's majid crabs! They're pretty similar to snow crabs, actually, with females able to store sperm for multiple clutches! Another similarity to snow crabs is sheep crabs undergo a terminal molt.

imagine the spermatophores on this guy!

Despite the name this ain't no sheepish crab! Diver Dr. Bill Bushing calls the sheep crab the "Mike Tyson of the underwater world"! We should pit one against a boxer crab to see what happens!

nom-nom-nom:
a sheep crab feasts on a shovelnose guitarfish

(The sheep crab would probably eat the boxer crab, what with their ridiculous size difference - sheep crabs can have carapace widths up to 6 inches while boxer crabs are often less than 1 inch across. But still. We can pretend.)

"BRING IT ON!"