Field notebook
Opening the requested public page…
Field notebook
Opening the requested public page…
Taxonomic class
This practical browse label comes from the published animal profiles. Taxonomy changes as evidence improves; individual source records remain the authority.
The male fiddler crab's oversized claw is used for waving and fighting, not eating. If he loses it, the small feeding claw on the other side can enlarge to take over the display role, and the regrown limb comes back small.
King crabs belong to the hermit crab lineage, not to the true crabs. The evidence is in the count: a king crab walks on three visible pairs of legs, because the fourth pair is reduced and tucked inside the gill chamber.
A woodlouse in a dry garden shed is a marine animal's descendant carrying its ocean anatomy on land. It breathes through gill-like structures on its underside, which is why it dies quickly in dry air and hides under damp wood by day.