Giant Crab

The Giant Crab was a creature which appeared in the 1961 fantasy-adventure movie Mysterious Island, based on the novel of the same name by noted author Jules Verne.

Description
An enormous crustacean over thirty feet in length, the Giant Crab was an aggressive beast with eight legs, a heavily-armoured shell, and a pair of powerful claws which it would use to catch and kill its prey. It was later revealed to have been part of a species of crab which had been bred to gigantic proportions by the renegade Captain Nemo in an effort to solve the problem of world hunger.

History
When a group of Unionist soldiers escaped from a Confederate prison camp via hot air balloon, they were blown far out to sea, where they eventually became stranded upon an uncharted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Shortly after their arrival, the group were attacked by one of the colossal crabs where it nearly managed to kill one of their number. Luckily, however, they were able to push the giant beast into a boiling geyser and kill it, before enjoying poached crab meat as a delicious meal.

Trivia

 * The Giant Crab seen in the movie was designed, built and animated by stop-motion legend Ray Harryhausen.