Only a quarter of all crab species are visible to the naked eye. Up until a few decades ago, only about 35,000 of the 67,000 species registered today were known.

From the Water flea to the Spider crab

There are of course the large, magnificent specimens that are tempting to look at. This is of course also the case with crabs. Whether the Japanese spider crab, the American lobster or Kamchatka crabs, the MEERESMUSEUM and the OZEANEUM can present animals of imposing size to visitors in several exhibition departments.

On the other hand, the local beach crab has "normal" proportions. This common find on Baltic Sea beaches fits easily in a child's hand. And yet even the small Beach crab is a giant compared to the majority of crabs. Because, as is illustrated in the MEERESMUSEUM under the theme "Crabs in the Natural Environment", crustaceans make only about a quarter of all known crabs. By far the rest, that is around 75 percent, are part of the zooplankton and remain mostly hidden to the human eye without magnification. And you do not always see that crustaceans belong to this genus. Just like the famous barnacles, who hide their insides under hard calcareous plates.

How rich and largely unexplored the huge range of species of crustaceans is, becomes evident from the fact that until a few decades ago, only about 35,000 species were known. Today it is supposed that more than 67,000 crab species exist. They make up a large proportion of the biodiversity in the sea.

Quite inconspicuous at around six centimetres, but of enormous importance for the balance of nutrition in the sea, is, for example, the krill, which has a shrimp-like body shape. Gathered in huge schools, krill form the livelihood for many marine mammals, such as baleen whales or seals.