The great spider crab, ''Hyas araneus'', is a species of crab found in northeast Atlantic waters and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, usually below the tidal zone. In 1986, two specimens were captured at the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

off the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

, apparently transported by human agency. It has been feared that the species would have an adverse effect on the native fauna, but there have been no further captures from the region since the 1986 specimens. The great spider crab can moult and get rid of their outer shell/skin. This can take some time but it lets them grow to great size. After they moult they are very vulnerable to predators because of a very soft exoskeleton.

References

Majoidea Crabs of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{crab-stub