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Say hello to Claude, the Tasmanian Monster Crab, who was recently caught off the coast of Tasmania. Originally destined to become crab cakes (approx 162 of them), a British aquarium bought his freedom for $4,800 and transported him to the UK, where he is expected to grow much, much larger.
Claude already weighs 15 pounds with a 15-inch-wide carapace and claws both large and strong enough to literally take your arm off. But he’s not full-size yet—staff at the Sea Life aquarium figure he’ll grow 3 inches wider and double his weight before reaching maturity. That’s right, he’s going to be a 30-pound crab with a three-foot wingspan if he continues on his diet of diced mackerel and squid. That puts him in the running to one day be the largest ever of his kind.
“They are such impressive creatures,” said Rob Hicks, head marine biologist for Sea Life, “we thought that it was worth the cost and effort of flying them halfway round the world so they can flourish in an aquarium display.” Tasmanian Monster Crabs are among the world’s largest species of crab and reside on the continental shelf off the coast of the island they’re named after.
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