Fossil Crab From Washington - Great Legs

This is a fine example of the fossil crab Pulalius vulgaris from Southwest Washington. These crabs are found within hard concretions (a mass of rock that forms around organic manner) which must be broken open to find the crab. The crab must then be prepared from the hard concretion using air tools, a very time consuming process. A crab like this probably took 10+ hours of preparation work.

Very few specimens have this many legs, this well preserved. Typically these crabs will be found with several of the legs broken off or tucked under.