What do hermit crabs and coconut crabs eat to grow, and where can you buy them in China?
The coconut crab is a common type of hermit crab found by the sea. It starts appearing on the market in summer. Because it is a wild animal and relatively rare, there are almost none for sale on the market at present, and even if some are sold, the price is rather high. So what do coconut crabs eat to grow? Where in China can you buy them?
The coconut crab is a hermit crab that grows on many coral islands of the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. It lives in tropical forests near the sea and is good at climbing trees, able to climb to the tops of coconut palms, palms, Castanopsis trees and others, so coconuts are the best bait for coconut crabs. It also feeds on various fruits and nuts.
Where in China can you buy them?
Live coconut crabs can be bought in Dalian, Qingdao and Hainan Province.
The coconut crab is a type of hermit crab. It has a massive body. It can weigh up to six kilograms. It is skilled at climbing trees. Because of heavy catching by people, it has become extremely rare by now. Its market price has also become high. It uses its sturdy pair of claws to peel open very hard coconut shells. It gets its name from eating the coconut flesh inside.
An adult coconut crab can weigh up to 6 kilograms. The carapace of its body and appendages is calcified, hard and thick, and the surface of the cephalothorax and walking legs has wavy wrinkles. The gill region of the cephalothorax is especially enlarged. The frontal horns are triangular, and the eye scales are small. The left claw is larger than the right claw. The dorsal and lateral plates of the abdomen are both calcified, with part folded beneath the cephalothorax.
Only one side retains a degenerated abdominal appendage. The claws used for catching prey are one large and one small, and the rest of the body is symmetrical on both sides. It belongs to the hermit crab family. Because it does not have to live inside a spiral shell that restricts its growth, adult crabs are all very large in appearance. There have been records of individuals weighing more than seven kilograms and nearly half a meter in body length, making it the largest arthropod on land.
Economic value
Coconut crab meat is delicious, the abdomen is rich in fat, and it is highly nutritious. Its eight legs in particular taste like lobster tail, and it also has a unique coconut aroma. In terms of cooking methods, whether steamed, stewed or made into soup, it is very delicious and tasty; and steaming the crab paste with egg is extremely good; if stewed in soup with angelica, red dates and longan flesh, it is considered an excellent health tonic. In the southern part of Taiwan, China, the coconut crab is also regarded as a nourishing natural wild delicacy. For example, mixing the paste and roe from its abdomen into rice wine and eating it is even considered an excellent virility tonic. Therefore, besides being a research subject for biologists, the coconut crab has also become a precious seafood delicacy favored by people, and it has great development value.