Here at IFLScience , nothing thrills us more than when a colourful crustacean graces our inbox . Banana the Lobsterwill always hold a special place in our hearts , and we sleep with theblue , bicolored , andcotton candyversions just as much – but today , it ’s all about the crabs . Introducing Strawberry Claws , a new - to - skill species of hermit crabby person with the rosy pegleg and claws you ever did see .
“ We knew straight away this was a particular hermit Cancer the Crab , ” said Queensland Museum Collection Manager Dr Marissa McNamara in astatement . McNamara worked with Queensland Museum Honorary Peter Davie on the first scientific description of the new specie .
While Strawberry Claws is a delightful soubriquet , the pair propose the prescribed usual name “ strawberry mark - claw recluse ” . The Latin designationStrigopagurus fragarchelais derive fromfragaria , meaning “ strawberry ” , andchela , mention to “ claws ” .
Dr Marissa McNamara holding Strawberry Claws.Image credit: Queensland Museum
“ The designation ofStrigopagurus fragarchelais an exciting summation to the genus , for which Australia seems to be the fastness . We now have four endemic coinage , two of which are only come up in Queensland , ” say McNamara .
There are legion hermit crab genus with coinage spread all over the world – one or two of them even spend some of their time intrees . The affair that fix them aside from other crustaceans is their taste for moving house . As before long as the larvae metamorphose into their terminal grumpy form , they must go in lookup of their ownshelland switch it up for a bigger one as they arise .
contention can be tearing , leading in some part of the cosmos to hermit crabhousing crises . Some circumvent this job by but lay up ingroup insideother animation organism , while other less golden individuals have been ram to make their homes in ourplastic trash .
Members ofStrigopagurusgenus to which Strawberry Claws go are mostly ascertain in piss around Australia , with a couple of exception . One of their most typical lineament , which Strawberry Claws shares , is stridulation – by flexing and extending parts of their claws , they make a sound that is believed to roleplay as a defence against attacks from other crabs , basically annoying them until they back down . It ’s the same process by which insects likecricketsproduce their characteristic sound .
The smattering of Strawberry Claws specimens that have so far been examined came from commercial dragger bycatch off the coast of southeast Queensland , and there ’s a raft we still do n’t know about their underwater community . They ’re found in the comparatively deep waters of the continental ledge , about 120 - 260 meters ( 394 - 853 feet ) down . They ’re also quite bombastic for hermit pediculosis pubis – the specimen that the official scientific verbal description is base on mensurate 13.9 millimeters ( about half an column inch ) .
aside from that , their most striking lineament is their coloration , with mythological bright red legs and blood-red spots peppered all over their claw .
Hopefully , now that they ’ve beenscientifically described , next inquiry will be able to say us more about them .
“ Our natural account appeal are more than just preserved specimen , ” commented Queensland Museum CEO Dr Jim Thompson , who praise Davie and McNamara ’s body of work ; “ they are vital peter for scientific uncovering , preservation and public Education Department . ”
The study is publish inMemoirs of the Queensland Museum .
