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Bonus #ArtAdventCalendar & #invertefest &#crustmas print made for #InsertAnInvert2024 
Time after time shrimp like crustaceans have evolved crablike forms (through a process called carcinization) and do a good job of pretending to be crabs, but this odd looking fellow is the real deal, a true crab. My red frog crab (Ranina ranina), also known as a spanner crab or Huỳnh Đế crab, is … 
found in tropical and sub-tropical waters offshore Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam, the east coast of Africa, through the Indian ocean to the Pacific offshore Japan and Hawai’i. It is the sole known member of its genus and it is fished for its meat. The 5.9” (15 cm) crabs live in 10 to 100 m (33–328 ft) of water, where they bury themselves in the sand during the day and hunt bottom-dwelling fish. Known as “frog crabs”, on account of their elongated carapace and frog-like appearance.2/
Their claws are modified into tools for digging, and the body is a rounded shape that is easy to bury in sand. Unlike most other true crabs, the abdomens of raninids are not curled under the cephalothorax, so they are a little unusual looking.
Ranina ranina is a regional specialty in some regions of the Philippines where it is known as curacha. It is generally eaten steamed as halabos, or cooked in coconut milk as ginataan. 3/4
In Vietnam the species is named as “Huỳnh Đế crab”, literally means “emperor crab” as it has been a favorite high-ranked cuisine of historical Vietnamese monarchs hailed “monarch of all the crab”.