Japanese giant crab

The Japanese giant crab Macrocheira kaempferi is not found in the North Sea, so your toes are quite safe. However, in Japan they are quite common. They live deep in the sea; in the spring the females come to shallow water to lay their eggs. Giant crabs are not that tasty, so they do not appear on menus that often.

Japanese spider crabs are mostly found off the southern coasts of the Japanese island of Honshū, from Tokyo Bay to Kagoshima Prefecture. Outlying populations have been found in Iwate Prefecture and off Su-ao in Taiwan.[4] Adults can be found at depths between 50 and 600 m (160 and 1,970 ft).[4] They like to inhabit vents and holes in the deeper parts of the ocean.[6]