Bizarre crustaceans make a big splash in the scientific world
- Issue: Spring 2019
Recently, some bizarre crustaceans have made a big splash in the scientific world. They're blind. They live in extreme deep-sea environments. They've all been discovered since 2005. And they're so hairy that they've quickly become known as "yeti crabs," after the mythical snow monster of the Himalayas. Check out three particularly cool yeti crab species, all in the newly christened genus kiwaidae.
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Kiwa hirsuta
Discovered: 2005
Location: Pacific-Antartic ridge (south of Easter Island)
Ocean depth: 7,200 feet
Habitat: Hydrothermal vents where mineral-rich water heated by lava enters the ocean
Size: Specimen collected was 6 inches
Unique features: The hairs on Kiwa hirsuta's arms are actually soft spines called setae; all three species grow dense "gardens" of bacteria on those hairs. Scientists have hypothesized that the crabs cultivate and eat the bacteria. -
Kiwa puravida
Discovered: 2006
Location: Off the coast of Costa Rica
Ocean depth: 3,281 - 3,412 feet
Habitat: Cold seep (place on ocean floor that leaks hydrocarbon-rich fluid)
Size: 3.5 inches
Unique features: Kiwa puravida possesses an appendage that looks like a tiny comb; scientists have observed it using the comb like a weird built-in fork, to scrape bacteria from its hairs and eat them. -
Kiwa tyleri, the "Hoff crab"
Discovered: 2010
Location: Around east Scotia ridge, off the coast of Antartica
Ocean depth: More than 8,500 feet
Habitat: Small zone between surreally hot hydrothermal vents and frigid Antartic waters
Size: 0.19 inches - 5.9 inches
Unique features: Named after actor David Hasselhoff due to its hairy chest and appendages, the Hoff crab is more compact than Kiwa hirsta or Kiwa puravida.
Illustrations by © Kel Zuki / WWF-US
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