Australian Scientists Discover Furry Crab Species That Wears Sponge As Hat
Meet Lamarckdromia beagle, a newly discovered species of crab found off Western Australia’s south coast.
The species is described alongside several other new discoveries by Western Australian Museum curator of crustacea and worms Dr Andrew Hosie and his team in a new paper published by the journal Zootaxa.
Those other crabs are great and all, but none of them have quite the golden pelt that L. beagle does. Lamarckdromia excavata comes close, but is a little more bedraggled, as you can see here:
Many of us have dug our winter woollies out to cope with the chilly weeks ahead, but I’m going to bet that none of us have a coat as resplendent as this fluffy crab. And who among us can say we have a hat as cool as our fine friend here, who has fashioned a kicky little beret from a sponge.
Crabs from the genus Lamarckdromia are known as sponge crabs, and are typically found in shallow waters down to a few hundred metres, especially around wharfs and other places where sea sponges accumulate.
Sea sponges are important to the crabs – they carry them on their heads to protect themselves from predators such as octopuses and fish. The sponges can be bad to eat, so could act as a deterrent to anything that tries to take a bite out of our crab friend.
Advertisements
23 September 2023
Advertisements
