Stay Crabby All Week
Sunday
Crabs are old. The oldest fossilized crab was found preserved in amber and was dated at 100 million years old, well into the time of the dinosaurs.
Monday
Crabs have incredible diversity in size. Male pea crabs are as small as 1/3rd of an inch wide, while the Japanese spider crab typically weighs 40 lbs. with a mind-boggling legspan up to 13 feet. In human terms, this would be like one person having an armspan of 6 feet, while another person’s armspan was a half mile wide.
Tuesday
In evolutionary terms, being crabby is popular…at least at some point. Biologists have determined that among decapod crustaceans – a group which includes crabs, lobsters, and shrimp – that the body design of a crab has evolved separately at least five times, a phenomenon known as “convergent evolution.” However, the design isn’t ideal for all environments, since this body plan has been lost by species at least seven times.
Wednesday
Some of the best-known “crabs” aren’t “true crabs” as defined by scientists. For example, the amazingly ancient horseshoe crab, that living fossil which was around before the dinosaurs, is actually an arachnid, like spiders and scorpions. Likewise, the hermit crab, with three pairs of walking legs and that longer, softer body necessitating those shells for protection, is also not a true crab, and neither is the king crab. “True crabs,” among other characteristics, have four pair of walking legs, a wide, flat shell, and antennae between their eyes.
Thursday
A “crab mentality” or “crabs in a bucket thinking” comes from observations that crabs which could otherwise easily climb out of a bucket on their own actually pull those crabs near the top back down. This is also known as “tall poppy syndrome” or simply “If I can’t have it, neither can you.”
Friday
Unless you’re a crab fisherman, catching crabs is usually bad. Besides being the colloquial (if imprecise) name for pubic lice, “catching a crab” also indicates losing control of the oar in competitive rowing.
Saturday
The modern term “crabby” comes from the obsolete “crabbed,” which doesn’t have any direct connection with the crustacean, but described an individual who is “angry, spiteful, and ill-tempered,” much like the modern crabby person is.