Crab fossil (Xanthropsis leachii Bell)

Cromer is famous for its crabs. The unique offshore chalk reef habitat has been a haven for the humble decapods for millennia and so it is fitting that probably the oldest crab in Norfolk resides in the Cromer Museum. This example of Xanthropsis leachii Bell lived in what is now the East Anglia coast around 50 million years ago during the Cenozoic Era. It was found in Marlesham, Suffolk which is the site of the red Crag Nodular Bed. This specimen is so old that its fossilised remains washed out of its original sediment and it was then laid down in the comparatively youthful 3 million year old sediment in which it was found.