Meet Australia's largest crustacean - the Giant Tasmanian Crab! Crustaceans are a group of invertebrate animals that includes crabs, lobsters, prawns and barnacles.
In the same way you need larger clothes as you grow, the Giant Tasmanian Crab needs to shed its shell as it grows. Juvenile crabs moult every 3 to 4 years, whereas adult females shed every 9 years and this is also the only time they can mate!
Although reproduction is rare, this species is long-lived and releases many eggs into the water. Larva hatch out of eggs and drift through the ocean before settling on the sea floor. You can easily spot the males by their one over-sized claw whereas females have two normal-sized claws.
