Crustaceans, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 7, 2021

Ferocious 'penis worms' were the hermit crabs of the ancient seas

The Cambrian period (543 million to 490 million years ago) brought the first great explosion of biodiversity to Earth, with the ancestors of practically all modern animals first appearing. One of the most feared among them was the penis worm. Technically known as priapulids — named for Priapus, the well-endowed...

Nov 12, 2021

Rare 'cotton candy' lobster was a 1-in-100 million catch

A Maine lobsterman recently made a one-in-a-hundred-million catch when he pulled up a rare lobster with a bright blue, speckled shell, the color of fairground cotton candy. The lobsterman, Bill Coppersmith, caught the so-called cotton candy lobster on Nov. 5 in Casco Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Maine....

Nov 26, 2021

Octopuses, squids and lobsters could become 'sentient beings' in the UK

A number of marine animals — including octopuses, squids, crabs and lobsters — will be recognized as sentient beings as part of a new law proposed by the U.K. government. The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill was first proposed in May and is currently under review. The proposed law originally included...

Jul 13, 2022

Scientists Put Shrimp on a Treadmill

A sluggish, sick human is easy to spot. But it's harder to tell when a shrimp is under the weather. So one scientist put the little crustaceans on a tiny treadmill to examine how diseases impact their performance. Humans fighting an infection typically sleep more and are not at top...

Aug 17, 2022

Tiny 'immortal' crab entombed in amber discovered in a first of its kind

For the first time ever, scientists have discovered an immortal crab fossilized in amber. Dating back to the Cretaceous period, this perfectly-preserved crustacean might be among the earliest examples of a crab occupying a freshwater habitat. Researchers named the newfound species Cretaspara athanata — athanata meaning immortal; Cret- for the...

Oct 14, 2022

Can you spot the crab in this photo? (Hint: It's under the fuzz.)

A crab species that was recently discovered in Australia fashions itself massive hats and coats made from living sponges, which makes the crustacean look like a wonderfully squeezable stuffed toy. (Don't be fooled, though — there's a tough exoskeleton beneath all the shaggy fluff!) A family first spotted the crab,...

Oct 14, 2022

Natural Sunscreen Explains Mantis Shrimp's Amazing UV Vision

The bizarre visual system of the colorful mantis shrimp just got weirder: New research finds these animals use a natural sunscreen compound to see ultraviolet light. Researchers knew that mantis shrimp, marine crustaceans sometimes known to crack aquarium glass with their powerful claws, had a very impressive visual system. The...

Oct 20, 2022

What made billions of snow crabs disappear from the Bering Sea?

Snow crabs in the Bering Sea once numbered in the billions. But after a recent and massive population crash the crabs have all but vanished from these waters — and they may not be coming back anytime soon. In 2018, about 3 billion mature snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) inhabited the...

Nov 15, 2022

What are Sea-Monkeys?

Sea-Monkeys is the marketing term for a common type of sea creature: brine shrimp. As a product, Sea-Monkeys were first sold in 1950s. Sea-Monkeys are sold in packets of dust comprised of brine shrimp eggs in suspended animation. The process used to create these creatures is proprietary. Despite their name,...

May 29, 2023

Why do animals keep evolving into crabs?

A flat, rounded shell. A tail that's folded under the body. This is what a crab looks like, and apparently what peak performance might look like — at least according to evolution. A crab-like body plan has evolved at least five separate times among decapod crustaceans, a group that includes...

Jun 13, 2023

Watch cannibal crab gobble up baby crablets in Australia in David Attenborough's 'Our Planet II'

Incredible footage captures the moment billions of baby crabs risk their lives as they scurry past cannibal adults and swarm the shores of Australia's Christmas Island . The ultra-rare video features in Our Planet II — David Attenborough's latest Netflix series looking at how animals are adapting to our changing...

Aug 12, 2023

Pom pom crab: The crustacean that uses anemones as boxing gloves

Name: Hawaiian boxer crab or pom pom crab (Lybia edmondsoni) Where it lives: The Hawaiian Islands What it eats: Shrimp, squid Why it's awesome: The pom pom crab grows to only around half an inch (13 millimeters) wide, and its soft exoskeleton means its armor is pretty useless. Yet despite...

Sep 9, 2023

Hoff crab: The hairy-chested crustacean that farms bacteria on its hairs

Name: Hoff crab (Kiwa tyleri) Where it lives: East Scotia Ridge, Southern Ocean What it eats: Bacteria Why it's awesome: It turns out that the Yeti does exist — or at least it does underwater. Named after the abominable snowman, this family of deep-sea squat lobsters was first discovered in...

Oct 12, 2023

'Hauntingly beautiful' image of a golden horseshoe crab wins wildlife photography competition

A stunning image of a golden horseshoe crab shuffling along the seabed with three striped fish overhead has won this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Laurent Ballesta, a French underwater photographer and marine biologist, captured the striking scene in the protected waters of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines,...

Oct 19, 2023

More than 10 billion snow crabs starved to death off the coast of Alaska. But why?

More than 10 billion snow crabs recently vanished from the Bering Sea, and now we know why: They fell victim to one of the biggest marine heat wave die-offs on record, new research shows. The deadly heat wave, which struck polar waters between Alaska and Siberia in 2018 and lasted...