Karen Lozarda, age 12, of Brownsville, Tex., for her question:

HOW BIG DOES A KING CRAB GET TO BE?

You'll find king crabs living along the Atlantic coast from Maine to the West Indies and Yucatan, and along the Pacific coast from Japan down the China shores, through Indonesia. The king crab's body, including a sharp spine that sticks up from its abdomen, measures nearly two feet long.

The king crab is not a true crab, but is related to both the scorpions and the extinct trilobites. This large sea animal is one of the last remaining members of a large group of animals that lived in prehistoric times and still live today.

The king crab's body has two segments. It has a large hoof shaped head and thorax, and a smaller abdomen or hind body. On the upper surface of the head lie a pair of large compound eyes and two small simple eyes. The mouth is on the center of the lower surface.

The king crab has six pairs of legs. The legs end in spines, which are used to grasp and tear apart food and prey.