<c><1>Red Crab
<l><5>The Red Crab is by far the most obvious of the 
<l><5>14 species of land crabs found on Christmas 
<l><5>Island. Millions of these bright red land crabs 
<l><5>live in their preferred shady sites all over the 
<l><5>island. Bright red is the common colour but 
<l><5>there are the occasional orange specimens and 
<l><5> more rarely some purple animals.They are a big 
<l><5>crab. An adult body shell (or carapace) may 
<l><5>measure up to 116mm across. The carapace is 
<l><5>round shouldered and encloses their lungs and  
<l><5>gills. Their claws are usually of equal size 
<l><5>unless one is a regrowing claw. Males grow 
<l><5>larger overall than females, while females have
<l><5>a much broader abdomen and usually have  
<l><5>smaller claws than males. However young crabs 
<l><5>all have the characteristic narrow abdomen of 
<l><5>the male. The broader female abdomen only 
<l><5>becomes apparent in the third year of growth.
<l><5>Red Crabs grow slowly, reaching about 40mm 
<l><5>in carapace width after 4-5 years. They are 
<l><5>sexually mature at this age and begin to 
<l><5>participate in the breeding migrations.
<l><5>