A crab's life
The first step out of the egg... A zoea larval form. Not all of the legs are present yet. They will be added as the larva molts. This one is from Carcinus maenas or the invasive European green crab.
Next step is the Megalops. All of the limbs are present and the tail is still elongated... but will soon fold under to give it that crab like shape that we all know and love. This is a Cancer megalops.
Here is a post settlement crab. It is just moving down from the water column to the bottom of the sea where it will spend the rest of it's life. This crab is an Ovalipes ocellatus or lady slipper crab. It has specially modified back legs which aid in swimming.
Now all the crab has to do to grow large is molt, which is no easy task. A crab will molt often when it first settles to the ground to gain in size, and will molt before every mating season. Notice the ghost like outer shell which will be shed on this laddy slipper crab.
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