Crablike

Crablike is an adjective used in biology to describe organisms or morphological traits that resemble the appearance or behavior of crabs. It is a descriptive term, not a taxonomic group, and applications of crablike can span several animal lineages as well as fossil forms.

Morphological features commonly described as crablike include a broad, laterally compressed body (carapace) and a body plan in which the cephalothorax is wide and the abdomen is reduced or tucked underneath. The legs are typically oriented to the sides (laterigrade), and the first pair of legs may bear powerful claws (chelae). Eyes are often on movable stalks.

These traits support life on the seafloor and in cluttered habitats by enabling sideways locomotion, stable posture, and efficient feeding strategies such as scavenging or predation. Crablike forms range from small intertidal crustaceans to larger reef dwellers and include both true crabs and other crustaceans that have converged on a crablike silhouette.

In paleontology or comparative anatomy, crablike may be used to describe fossil arthropods that show crablike carapaces or limb arrangements, even when their exact relationships to modern crabs are uncertain. The term emphasizes resemblance rather than lineage and reflects convergent evolution toward a common functional form.