King Crab

King of Crustaceans

The king crab is the largest of all crustaceans. They come in various types, but they are all large enough to eat whole cows and they all live in coastal waters.
They are known and feared for their power and their size, and they are hunted for their impressive exo skeletons.

Diet

They primarily consume other crustaceans and shellfish, along with the occasional fish, if they can catch it. They will even take any kind of seal when the opportunity arises, but they will not pass up an opportunity to eat something bigger. They like coastal regions, so they can have easy access to the see, where they are the most at home, as well as being close to the land, where their favorite prey lives, people.

They generally hunt as ambush predators, waiting for their food to come to them, but they are not above chasing and fighting for their food.

Habitat

Most of these crabs prefer rocky coasts, with plenty of sea caves and large crevasses, and islands for them to hide in, but there are also types that burrow on mud or sand, and therefore make do with sandier shores.
They don't live on the high seas permanently, but they can swim long distances through open water, in order to make it to other coasts, which is also why they are found on every coastline, on every continent.

Types

There are several types of King crab, each with they own strategy and tactics to find food, and they have adapted for a bunch of different climates.

Rock Crabs are those that appear as large boulders, they fold their arms and legs in, making it nearly impossible to distinguish them from a regular rock without closely inspecting them. They can be found especially on rocky coasts, where there are plenty of other boulders to hide amongst. Still, occasionally they stray to a sandy shore, where they lay on the beach as a single boulder, unknowing beachgoers might go to it out of curiosity, which generally ends in the crab getting its next meal.
They can grow up to the size of a small elephant.

Mud Crabs are those that burry in the dirt, they are the variant that can be found the furthest inland, although they will still usually stick to a river, or some way to easily swim back to the sea. They are brown in color, making it easier for them to fit in among the dirt. The often also cover themselves in grass or leaves, to make the disguise more convincing, They wait for their prey to step close, and when they can feel the footsteps, or hoof steps, if it is a deer or some other animal, and then they jump up, surprising their prey, and killing it quickly with their powerful claws.
They are similar in size to the Rock crabs.

Sand Crabs have a simular strategy to the mud crabs, except they burry under the sand on the beach, they have a grainy yellow or grey color, and it is thought they can change their exact collorations, on the top of their carapace at least, in order to fit in better.
they are some of the smallest of the king crabs, and they are hunted incessantly, they can grow only to the size of about three large bison.

Giant Crabs are the largest of the king crabs by far, they live in the coastal waters and are most known for attacking merchant ships, they have regular brown and grey colors, making them look simply like a massive version of a regular crab.
They can get up to the size of a large elephant.

Reef Crabs live in the shallow seas of the world, they have been seen the least, because they prefer the company of coral and reef fish. They also eat the least amount of people, and prefer a diet of shark and large fish. They are thought to protect the smaller fish in the reef from predators. However, they are still hostile to anything that comes too close, that isn't a reef fish.

Enemies

The King Crab is the boss of the coast and shallow seas, but as soon as it ventures from these regions, it stops being impressive. It cant hunt in deep waters, due to its strategy being based around having ground somewhere under it, and there are much more dangerous beasts lurking in the deep, that would love to have a snack in the form of a crab.

Hunting

Crab hunting is one of the monster hunter's big tricks. These beasts are dangerous and are a very common sight on the adventurer's guilds' bounty lists.
On top of that, their Chitin exo skeleton is a most prized resource in many harbors and can fetch a good penny. This means that not only do monster hunters come after them, for the bounty, but there are even chitin companies, who specifically hunt them for their chitin.
monster hunters usually just give the chitin to the guild, in exchange for a big bonus, so they don't have to harvest and sell it themselves.

Reproduction

King crabs are solitary, and they only come together for the sake of mating. When fertilized, the female will lay thousands of little eggs, which are attached to the underside of her abdomen until they hatch.

Newly hatched crabs are called larvae, they are tiny and drift in the water filter feeding for food, and over the course of several molts, they grow bigger, and more looking like a crab. This whole process is basically the same as other crabs, and when they reach the juvenile crab stage, there is a period where they are hard to distinguish from regular crabs, however, they just keep growing, and growing, until they become absolute giants, like their parents.

This whole process can take over a decade, and in that time, they are most vulnerable to predation, it is only when they become young adults, around the age of twelve, that they are large enough to truly defend themselves from the likes of sharks and whales. Before then, most of them are eaten, and only a handful of all the larvae, survive long enough to become fully grown adults.