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The phylogeny of king crabs as hermit crabs who underwent secondary calcification and left their shell has been suspected since the late 1800s. [4] They are believed to have originated during the Early Miocene in shallow North Pacific waters, where most king crab genera – including all Hapalogastrinae – are distributed and where they exhibit a high amount of morphological diversity.
The red king crab is the largest species of king crab. [2] Red king crabs can reach a carapace width up to 28 cm (11 in), a leg span of 1.8 m (5.9 ft), [3] and a weight of 12.7 kg (28 lb). [4] Males grow larger than females.
They can also grow to be an average size of 6–10 inches (15–25 cm), with a carapace, or the dorsal side of the exoskeleton, growing upwards of 12 inches (30 cm) wide. [1] This makes the Puget Sound king crab one of the largest crabs on the West Coast of the United States and yet it is still one of the hardest crab species to find.
In 1980, at the peak of the king crab industry, Alaskan fisheries produced 200 million lb of crab, but by 1983, the total size of the catch had dropped to less than 10% of this size. [13] Several theories for the precipitous drop in the crab population have been proposed, including overfishing, warmer waters, and increased fish predation.
The golden king crab also has a distinctive carapace, which typically has five to nine spines on the mid-dorsal plate. [2] [5] Unrelated to their size, golden king crabs generally have the lowest meat-fill in proportion to their bodies compared with other Alaskan king crabs. They also have a fan-shaped tail flap located on the rear and ...
Neolithodes is a genus of king crabs in the subfamily Lithodinae. [1] They are found in all major oceans, both in high and low latitudes.Although there are records from water as shallow as 70 m (230 ft) in cold regions, most records are much deeper, typically 700–2,000 m (2,300–6,600 ft), with the deepest confirmed at 5,238 m (17,185 ft).