A crab at American Dream is making football predictions, and he's on a win streak!
North Jersey residents looking for sports gambling advice may find it from an unlikely source: a nine-spined spider crab that lives in the Sea Life Aquarium at the American Dream mall.
The area's newest and most successful NFL prognosticator is on a three-game winning streak after correctly "picking" the New York Jets to defeat the New York Giants in Sunday's rivalry game played next door at MetLife Stadium. The win marked the 2-year-old crab's fourth over five weeks of picks, each documented on the aquarium's Instagram page.
"We are quite proud of our spider crab's predictions and how accurate they have been," said Abhiruchi Jain, marketing manager for Sea Life. She added that the animal does not have a name yet, but the aquarium is organizing a contest for the public to choose his name.
Unlike many other bettors who thoroughly study matchups to determine their picks each week, the Sea Life crab's process is remarkably simple.
An employee places an aquarium decoration with two helmets representing each team inside the tank and drops the crab in the middle. The animal eventually makes his way to one side to climb on or under a helmet, thereby announcing his pick for the week.
The crab got into the win column Oct. 1 when it picked the Kansas City Chiefs, who narrowly defeated the Jets, 23-20, on Sunday Night Football. It suffered the only blemish on its record the following week when it went with the Denver Broncos, who lost at home to the Jets, 31-21.
The crab has caught fire since then, starting with a considerable upset on Oct. 15 when the Jets defeated the previously unbeaten Philadelphia Eagles, 20-14.
A week later, the crab correctly predicted the Giants to beat the Commanders, 14-7. It was undoubtedly sweating it out last weekend as the Jets needed a last-second field goal to force overtime, but they prevailed over the Giants, 13-10.
Add it all up, and North Jersey's most prominent animal bettor boasts an impressive .800 winning percentage since the start of October.
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The crab, whose scientific name is Libinia emarginata, is a local originally from Shark River in Monmouth County (which may explain his prowess for predicting the two New Jersey-based teams). The species, one of several known as "decorator" crabs for attaching debris to its hard shell for camouflage, can live up to eight years and grow to a maximum leg span of 12 inches.
Sea Life "drafted" the crab on Aug. 29 as the aquarium's animal ambassador, Jain said. He began predicting NFL games in late September and will continue to make picks for the rest of the season.
The crab lives with fish such as domino damsels, pajama cardinalfish and harlequin tuskfish in a football-themed tank, a fitting theme for visitors to the aquarium this fall. And for any visitors who are struggling with bets, they may want to pay attention to the 10-legged creature walking around the tank.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Sea Life crab at American Dream makes NFL predictions
