the closest relatives of the crabs are anomurans, a crustacean group which includes animals such as hermit crabs, king crabs and squat lobsters. they look a lot like crabs and many have the word 'crab' in their name, but are not true crabs. anomurans can be told apart by the number of legs: crabs have eight legs, along with two claws or pincers, while the last pair of an anomuran's legs is hidden inside the shell, so that only six are visible.