HONOLULU — The Hawaii Department of Agriculture is wondering how a giant coconut crab made its way to the state.
KHON-TV reports resident Holly Cantere of the Honolulu suburb of Moanalua spotted the 4.8-pound creature Sunday crawling along busy Salt Lake Boulevard and boxed it up.
Coconut crabs are the world’s largest arthropods.
University of Hawaii marine researcher Rob Toonen says they can grow up to three feet long, or as big as a trash can lid.
They are a terrestrial hermit crab native to areas in the Indian and Western Pacific oceans but an invasive species in Hawaii.
Toonen says they can crush coconuts, eat native birds and juvenile plants and tear up the landscape.
Agriculture officials say it’s the first coconut crab sighting in Hawaii since 1989.