Red King Crab
Paralithodes camtschaticus

Where do red king crabs live?

Red king crabs are found around the Pacific Rim from eastern Korea to northern British Columbia and throughout the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska, Sea of Okhotsk, and along the Kamchatka shelf to depths up to 250 m.

What do red king crabs eat?

Red king crabs diets vary with their age and how deep they live. Larval crab float around as zooplankton (microscopic animals) while eating lots of plankton (microscopic plants); as they get older juvenile crab fall to the ocean floor and begin feeding on benthic organisms; as adults red king crabs eat an assortment of worms, bivalves, echinoderms and algae.

How do red king crabs reproduce?

Red king crabs spawn every year. Beginning in January through June in the shallow waters of Bristol Bay, red king crab mate. After mating a female may have up to 500,000 eggs fertilized! The female crab keeps the eggs underneath her abdominal flap where she rears them for up to a year until the larvae spawn.