What is exactly a crab, and why are there so many around the world? Well, to start, crabs are decapod crustaceans. They have around 5 pairs of legs and 2 large pinchers, or claws. They are present in all oceans, can be in freshwater, and can travel on land. It is also said that we collect around 1.5 million tonnes of crabs a day just for food. So, that asks, why are there so many crabs?

There's a few reasons why there are so many crabs out there, perhaps more than I could share in one webpage. But, I believe there are two main reasons that there are so many. One is that they have great genetics, in which both saltwater and freshwater crabs exist. They also developed around 200 million years ago, giving them lots of time to become very complete and vast organisms. But that can't just be it? Can it?

No, that's not just it. Well, kind of. It's part of the issue, but one other reason that there's so many crabs is due to a process called Carcinisation. To dumb it down, it is the process in which non-crustacean animals develop crab-like body structures and features, since crabs have really good genetics. As a result, many species of animals sort of become crabs, like the end of evolution or whatnot. So, what can be said about this?

Well, in conclusion, there are many reasons why there's so, so many crabs out there. From crabs having very vast genetics for decent survival rates to the fact that most animals eventually become crab-like, it seems like crabs are gonna stick around for millenias to come.