A video has been posted online showing the rare and mysterious orangutan crab swimming just off the Indonesian island of Lembeh. These tiny creatures are no bigger than a thumb nail, around two centimetres, which makes them really difficult to spot.
The footage filmed at night by experienced diver Atsushi Sadaki, captured the crab kicking off from the sea bed and waving its legs to propel it through the water.
A member of the decorator crab family Inachidae, the crab gets it name from its long arms which are thickly covered with long red hairs. Members of Inachidae are famous for their compulsion to attach debris collected from the ocean floor, plus tiny plants, sedentary animals, shells and gravel to their hairs for camouflage.
But strangely enough, when this crab isn’t busy collecting debris, it is frequently found on and next to a pearl coloured bubble coral called Plerogyra sinuosa. Not exactly blending in with its surroundings.
Featured image: Creative Commons
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