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[ShoesandHats]

I just got my first forgotten beast, an enormous, hairy crab that shoots webs. Just how dangerous is this? I don't think it can get into my fortress because the only connection to the cave it has is a hole over some water and I'm not sure it can swim.

[Musashi]

For starters, web-shooting FBs just don't shoot webs. So, that's one less deadly ability to deal with.
Secondly, it doesn't seem to be made of an unusual material. If it were made of something solid (stone, gems, etc), then it would have been more difficult to kill; if it's made of something softer (mud, salt, water, etc), then even a 2-year-old can punch its head off. I suppose it is a "normal", organic crab there, since you didn't mention material. So... it itself, it shouldn't be much more dangerous than, say, a giant or a cyclops.
However, FBs naturally swim and never drown, so watch out. It can get annoying if it decides instead to chill out in the body of water instead of walking in a predictive manner towards your fort.

[ShoesandHats]

It is just an organic crab, but just how dangerous are giants if its as dangerous as one of em'? Plus, I think the hole connecting the fortress to the cavern is actually several Z-levels above the water and it has no wings or anything. Also, its during my first siege so if I could somehow capture it and sic it on the gobbos that would be particularly awesome dwarfy.

[NecroRebel]

A skilled, decently-equipped soldier can usually take out forgotten beasts solo unless they've got deadly dust (which is really, really troublesome). As long as you've got your soldiers fully armored with shields, they should be alright.

[Musashi]

It is just an organic crab, but just how dangerous are giants if its as dangerous as one of em'? Plus, I think the hole connecting the fortress to the cavern is actually several Z-levels above the water and it has no wings or anything. Also, its during my first siege so if I could somehow capture it and sic it on the gobbos that would be particularly awesome dwarfy.

Well... you might want to send a whole bunch of dwarfs against it. Avoid going 1vs1 with these big monsters, try to overwhelm them instead with sheer number to exterminate them fast and with as few casualties as possible. In this case, if you can also manage to shoot bolts at it without allowing it to get its huge claws on an archer, you should be safe (this strategy works a lot well with beasts having ranged abilities: deadly dust, poisonous vapors, fire breathing, etc). If I understand the situation correctly, then indeed, only winged creatures could reach your fortress, and this isn't one of them. You seem to be a beginner, so your military might not be quite optimized yet, therefore, you should mentally prepare yourself for a few losses.
Sadly, FBs aren't affected by normal traps (unless you can somehow knock it out on top of a cage trap without killing it), so it could prove to be quite the difficult task.  But you could still survive the siege and release the goblin prisoners near said FB...

[dirty foot]

I just got my first forgotten beast, an enormous, hairy crab that shoots webs. Just how dangerous is this? I don't think it can get into my fortress because the only connection to the cave it has is a hole over some water and I'm not sure it can swim.

Apparently, they can all swim.

It should also be noted that many of them can also fly. Be ready for some Fun.

[dirty foot]

A skilled, decently-equipped soldier can usually take out forgotten beasts solo unless they've got deadly dust (which is really, really troublesome). As long as you've got your soldiers fully armored with shields, they should be alright.

They dust can often kill them as well though.

If that were the case, just drop a few kittens down there and let it slam itself into a few walls for a while. Who knows, it might even kill itself for you.

[ShoesandHats]

From its description, it looks like it doesn't have any abilities besides scuttling and shooting webs.

[wuphonsreach]

Alternately, find a rock pillar with a decent field of view which can be hollowed out.  Tunnel to it from your fortress in a safe route.  Dig out the inside that pillar, then smooth the outer walls.  After the outer wall is smoothed, you can smooth it again into a fortification.  Position marksdwarves in the room when the FB is within 10-12 tiles of the pillar, watch as they turn the FB into a pincushion.

(I make a lot of these mini-forts down in the cavern layers.  The fortifications are on Z+1 above the cavern floor, with a drink and ammo stockpile on Z+2.  It's a similar concept to creating pillboxes on the surface.)

[Nidokoenig]

I remember my first FB, or at least the first I got to fight. A horn silver mite with deadly dust. Wiped out my whole fort like they were nothing, though they were able to bruise, dent or break its everything in the process(some of it was probably the dust, but I did see plenty of chipping in the reports). My second was a winged salt blob, which one of my recruits sneezed at.

Biological ones tend to be easier, but watch out for the blood. Have facilities for showering and cleaning available.

[Triaxx2]

Fah. Just pour magma into the water and seal the ugly bugger into an Obsidian casket.

[Starver]

Given the possibility of dooming the dwarves being sent against certain FBs, I think that I'd send just one dwarf against it, only, and prepare to isolate the area (and, if it comes to that, the survivor, assuming I don't have to engineer a cave-in or something to finish the job).

[Reelyanoob]

FB trap idea : Build a pit area (hatched over with a grid of hatches every 3rd square). The pit itself should be on a z-level the FB can reach. Set up chained or pastured excess animals in the pit area. Plan a cave-in (with a lever linked to a support) to trap the FB while it's busy fighting the animals.

When these are complete, channel out the gap between your pit and the caverns (The cave-in should reblock the channel)

Now, you have a 'tame' FB for goblin pitting, and the hatches pre-placed above mean it won't freak out the dwarves.

If you had a GCS this would be a lot easier, as you could conspire to cage the FB. Although, the pit could hold the FB until you managed to get a GCS (good luck!) then you could pit the FB basically anywhere, with some ingenuity and herding of the GCS.

I don't know if regular spider webs trap FB's , in theory you could build traps anywhere you have normal cave spiders.

[Nidokoenig]

There's a [THICKWEB] tag for that, so you'll probably have to use GCS web.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Actually the fact that it is a crab deserves some worried notice since, in my experience, animals with lots and lots of legs (anthropods in general) tend to be harder then other animals--the legs take a lot of the attack without crippling it in the least.  So my call-crowd it or marksdwarves.