A real monster was caught in the net of fishermen from Northumberland County - a crab with three sets of claws. A certain Jeff Handyside, the man who caught this extraordinary creation of nature, donated a 20-centimeter crab to the Blue Reef aquarium, located in Tynemouth
The staff of the institution immediately came up with a name for the new tenant - the newly arrived marine inhabitant was named Claude. A third claw grew on one of the creature's limbs, just below the main one. According to Anna Etchells, such abnormal anatomical features are extremely rare in crustaceans. Consequently, it is very difficult to unequivocally determine why this happened - perhaps it is a matter of ecology, or the reason is in some kind of "genetic failure".
Like other crustaceans, crabs are capable of claw regeneration. Actually, such troubles happen to them quite often - during fights between individuals or when attacked by predators. It is possible that the appearance of an extra limb is a consequence of a deviation that happened during the restoration of a limb.
Despite the fact that the third claw looks very impressive, it is significantly inferior in functionality to the other two. In fact, the new limb hardly made Claude a more threatening contender to other crabs. On the other hand, obviously, this small feature does not in the least prevent him from hunting. In general, the state of health of the crab is assessed as absolutely normal, and, apart from the presence of the third claw, Claude is no different from his fellows.