New Gall Crab Species Discovered

by | Apr 27, 2015 | Fish, Science | 0 comments

anewcoralinhThe fact the new ocean species are still being discovered shows how much we still have to learn about marine biodiversity. Just recently, a new species of gall crab has been discovered in Indonesia and Malaysia by researcher Sancia van der Meij from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands. The new gall crab has been named Lithoscaptus semperi. The crab was discovered in the corals of the species Trachyphyllia geoffroyi . Gall crabs are very small in live in coral dwellings, feeding on the mucus created by the corals. The crabs settle in the coral as larvae, and the coral grows around them, literally creating a coral dwelling for the crab. The findings of this study have been published in the 500th issue of the open access journal ZooKeys.What is interesting about this species is that female gall crabs are on average around twice the size as their male counterparts. The female gall crabs are effectively ‘imprisoned’ in the gales due to the large number of eggs they carry and their larger size. The gall crab species discovered in this study is so far is only known to inhabit Trachyphyllia corals. MORE

  • Francis Yupangco

    Francis is a marine biologist with an MBA and over 20 years of professional aquarium experience. Francis is the former Aquatic Development Manager at Hagen USA., makers of Fluval brand aquarium products. He co-stars on Nat Geo WILD's reality TV series Fish Tank Kings where he is the resident "Fish Geek" and was Director of Marketing at Living Color Aquariums. He is an avid explorer having visited over 45 countries and lived in 7. At 17, he was among the youngest aquarists ever hired by the Vancouver Aquarium, where he worked for 7 years. His aquatic biology experience ranges from larval fish rearing to the design, construction and operational management of renowned public aquariums around the world. Francis is currently head of marketing at the world's largest vertically integrated fish farming company.

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