What do you like to eat for breakfast? Cereal? Eggs? Pancakes? If you said pancakes, you might enjoy learning about the pancake crab. It looks exactly like your breakfast plate in the morning!​

Pancake crabs live in the Indian and Pacific oceans. They make their homes in coral reefs. They crawl across the rocky bottom of the ocean floor, moving very slowly.​

Pancake crabs are nocturnal. That means they come out at night. They stay close to the rocks so they can duck into a hiding place if a predator comes along. ​​

The red egg crab is another name for the pancake crab. When they are fully grown their shells are red-brown. When they are young, their shells are red-orange with a white border. ​

The young crab shells look especially like pancakes. But even though they might look yummy, they are actually poisonous! They have bacteria living on them that make them unsafe to eat. ​

Some other crabs that live nearby are poisonous too. One is the green egg crab. It is also called the shawl crab because the white lines on its shell look like lace. ​

Another neighbor is the spotted reef crab. This crab has red spots on its back like a pepperoni pizza. But don’t let that fool you! The spotted reef crab is also poisonous. Its danger comes from its diet of poisonous mollusks.​

With all this talk of pepperoni and pancakes, you might think crabs are the only animals that look like food. Not so! If you like chocolate croissants, some people say there’s a sloth who might just be your breakfast’s twin!​