Development of the Dungeness crab (Cancer magister). The crabs live for 8 to 10 years.

1 After a female crab has mated, she fertilizes eggs with stored sperm and then holds them under her abdomen for 2–3 months until they hatch.
2 Within an hour of hatching, an early-stage planktonic larva (called a zoea) develops.
3 The early-stage larva grows and molts repeatedly, altering its form only slightly.
4 The fifth molt of the early-stage larva produces a late-stage planktonic larva with an altered body form (a megalops).
5 The late-stage larva molts into a bottom-dwelling juvenile crab. Growth and repeated molting will produce a sexually mature adult in about 2 years.