King crab meat is considered a delicacy. King crabs are a taxon of crab-like decapod crustaceans chiefly found in cold seas. King crabs are generally thought to be derived from hermit crab-like ancestors within the Paguridae, which may explain the asymmetry still found alaskan king crab legs the adult forms. Although formerly classified among the hermit crabs in the superfamily Paguroidea, king crabs are now placed in a separate superfamily, Lithodoidea.
Lithodes Latreille, 1806 Lithodes aequispinus J. Glyptolithodes is found chiefly in the Southern Hemisphere, but extending as far north as California, although all its closest relatives live in the Northern Hemisphere. However, populations have fluctuated in the past 25 years, and some areas are currently closed due to overfishing. The two species are similar in size, shape and life history.
Red king crabs have an 11-month brood cycle in their first reproductive year and a 12-month cycle thereafter. Both red and blue king crabs have planktotrophic larvae that undergo 4 zoeal stages in the water column and a non-feeding intermediate glaucothoe stage which seeks appropriate habitat on the sea floor. This crab is in the collection of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Its natural range is the Bering Sea around the Kamchatka Peninsula area, between the Aleutian Islands and St. The blue king crab, Paralithodes platypus, lives near St. Matthew Island, the Pribilof Islands, and the Diomede Islands, Alaska, and there are populations along the coasts of Japan and Russia.