Giant crab reports that surfaced recently have just been disproved by a marine biologist. According to Dr. Verity Nye, an expert on sea life, the massive crustacean that was said to be living on the cost of Kent was only a very well-doctored hoax.
The residents of Whitstable were shocked when a picture of a huge crab became viral. The photo showed the silhouette of a ginormous crab-looking specimen only a few yards from the coastal town's harbor. However, Dr. Nye, who has been working on logging newly discovered species of crabs, believes that it is impossible for a crab to grow as big as the one in the photograph.
Dr. Nye is actually an Ocean and Earth Science researcher at the University of Southampton. "The idea of a giant 'crabzilla' would be very exciting. Unfortunately, I think this is a hoax," she said. "I don't know what the currents are like around that harbor or what sort of shapes they might produce in the sand, but I think it's more conceivable that someone is playing about with the photo."
She then added, "The UK does have large crabs. The biggest is the spider crab, which can grow up to 1.2 meters in size, but they tend to stay in much deeper water, about 1,000 meters deep, and are a different shape from the image in this photo."
"Crabs with a 'pie crust edge,' like the one in the crabzilla image, are known as edible crabs, or Cancer Pagarus, but tend to only grow about 20 to 30 centimeters," Dr. Nye claimed.
Additionally, Dr. Nye continued and mentioned that the largest crab in the world, which could be perceived as the giant crab, is the Japanese Spider Crab. They can grow to approximately 3.7 meters in size, which is about as big as a relatively small car, but they only stay in deep water. In fact, Dr. Nye strongly believes that they "don't come ashore."
Although it may be true that crabs are amazingly diverse creatures and it is not highly inconceivable that new species may be found, but the viral giant crag picture apparently could not stop the sea life expert from laughing. Dr. Nye shared, "I laughed when I saw this picture."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
