The Yeti Crab

Furry Crab

The “yeti crab,” discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, is so extraordinary that a new taxonomic family had to be invented for it. The new species was found during a deep-sea dive expedition, some 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) off Easter Island. Living next to hydrothermal vents at depths of 7,540 feet (2,300 meters), the blind white crustacean, named Kiwa hirsute, was also dubbed the yeti (or abominable snowman) crab because of its hairy arms, which support colonies of yellow bacteria.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 9:19 pm and is filed under Curious Crustaceans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.