Moon Crab

Image: budak

It's the world's most flat-footed crab!

Moon Crabs are less than 20 species in the Matutidae family.

Image: Andrey Papko

It turns out Matutidae is a rather interesting name! It comes from the Latin maturas, which meant "ripe" or "early". It's where we get the word "mature" from.

But it also gave us cool words like "matutine" and "matutinal" which all have something to do with the morning and there was also a Roman goddess of the dawn called Mater Matuta.

Image: Bill & Mark Bell

So it's a ripe and early, mature, morning Moon Crab. Phew! I hope they don't think about all that too much, they wouldn't know whether they're coming or going!

Moon Crabs are mostly nocturnal, so they clearly went for the Moon option. They also have a pair of large spikes sticking out of the sides of their carapace so they look just like a moon on a stick.

Image: Ria Tan

Daytime hours are spent buried in sand at the beach. Moon Crabs are really good at burying themselves because they have a whole set of shovels.

Every one of their eight feet is flattened into a kind of paddle or spade so they can disappear underground at a moment's notice or even swim when they want to.

Image: Ria Tan

Moon Crabs seem to be rather proud of their flat feet and thick legs. Most of their body is sandy-coloured for camouflage but their limbs are frequently clad in gorgeous, eye-catching colours and patterns.

I still don't know if they can dance with eight flat feet, though.