A Crab for Halloween in Japanese Aquarium?

Another episode on Halloween - this time on a Halloween-brand crab found by accident at nearby seashore. Nicknamed "Jack-o'-Lantern", the crab is on display at the Oarai Prefectural Aquarium.

At a glance, the crab does look like Jack-o'-Lantern or perhaps a flying bat. The aquarium says it's a crab commonly known as Hira Isogani or Gaetice depressus found extensively from Okinawa up to the mainland coasts. It varies in color from one area to another. Its shell is about an inch and sure looks like Jack-o'-Lantern at a first glance. If you look closer it resembles the mouth of a pumpkin in the image of a flying bat. Either way, the design is just fit for Haloween - so people say.

According to Withnews, Kazutoshi Nakaniwa of the aquarium was out late last month for collecting crabs and starfish and found this among a dozen other crabs. He handpicked this particular crab for display in a tank of its own as if mixed with others he thought it tends to hide behind others.

Luckily enough, the aquarium is just staging a Halloween event "Halloween World 2015" with a huge tank in the shape of a pumpkin. The Jack-o'-Lantern crab will proudly sit in a tank of its own to attract Halloween fans. The crab will stay there even after the event is over.

"We have no idea how old the crab is", says Nakaniwa, "and  the crab might shed its shell before Halloween. But the design on the shell would likely stay as it is". "So, come visit us the aquarium at Halloween time", he adds.

As previously told, Halloween in Japan has transfigured itself as has St. Valentine's Day. It's becoming more and more a commercial event with little or no religious connotation. No child will "trick or treat" here, no grownup will be "scared" enough to give away goodies.