There's a name for it
The universe really likes to make things into crabs. According to some evolutionary biologists, nature wants to make humans, and every other complex creature, into crabs. There's a term for it introduced by biologist L.A. Borradaile: carcinization.
In 1916, Borradaile described carcinised morphology as "… the phenomenon which may be called "carcinization" … consists essentially in a reduction of the abdomen of a macrurous crustacean, together with a depression and broadening of its cephalothorax, so that the animal assumes the general habit of body of a crab."
In other words, carcinization is defined as “the tendency for evolution to evolve things that are not crabs into crabs."
True crabs vs. false crabs
This crabby phenomenon seems to be true. So much so that marine scientists have to identify crab-like creatures as true crabs and false crabs. Currently, this occurrence exists only in other crustacean animals in the water, but who knows? Humans could be next!
The most popular false crab is the Alaskan King Crab, the one that's super tasty. It's not a true crab! It is speculated that the Alaskan King Crab evolved from a hermit crab, which is also not a true crab! And a Horseshoe Crab is more closely related to a spider or scorpion than a true crab! Who knew?!
If this is our future, we should probably get familiar with crab attributes. Crabs are pretty impressive creatures:
- they can move in any direction, though they mainly walk sideways (crabwise)
- they can move incredibly fast in water and on land (amphibious)
- they are super strong for their size with powerful front pincers (snap, snap!)
- they have a protective shell (exoskeleton)
Not gonna lie, those would be some handy assets to have!
More fun facts about crabs
Decapods
Insects have six legs. Arachnids (spiders) have eight. Crabs kick one-upsmanship up a notch. They have ten legs.
Some crabs are very long-lived
The Japanese Spider Crab can live for 100 years.
Moving crabwise
Crab's legs are positioned on the sides of their body, and their joints are designed for sideways movement, making it more efficient and comfortable for them. Additionally, their wide, flattened shape helps them navigate narrow crevices and burrow into sand, where sideways movement is advantageous.
Do not google Coconut Crabs (aka Robber Crabs)
Seriously, don't. They are terrifying. Not only are they huge (they can grow three feet wide) and have huge, wicked-looking pincers, but they also live on land. Luckily for most of us, they don't live on this land. They're native to many Pacific Islands including Australia's Christmas Island. Luckily, they seems to be fairly gentle. While they will steal nearly anything that isn't nailed down including cameras, shoes, rucksacks, camping gear and rifles. If we haven't scared you off. click here at your own risk
A school of fish, a murder of crows, and...
A group of crabs is called a cast.
Learn more
Of course, by the time humans become crabs this generation will be long gone, but maybe our great-great-great- etc. grandkids will be more crustacean-like.
In preparation for our impending crab-ocalypse, here are some articles about the evolution of the crab:
SciTech Natural Science collection
Find more via our online databases.
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