What Exactly Is: Yeti Crab | The Crabominable Deep-Sea Crustacean

Even though they are called yeti crabs, they are actually not crabs. Yeti crabs are squat lobsters specialized to live on hydrothermal vents and hydrocarbon seeps. The iconic hair-like setae on their body facilitates this lifestyle. So far, we’ve found six potential species, and one of those have not been described yet. Let’s talk about them.


Timestamps
0:00 Opening Thought
0:55 Taxonomy and General Information
5:01 Morphology
8:20 Lifestyle and Behaviour


References
Scholtz, G. (2014). Evolution of crabs - history and deconstruction of a prime example of convergence. Contributions to Zoology, 83(2): 87-105. https://doi.org/10.1163/18759866-0830...

Roterman, C. N., Lee, W. K., Liu, X., Lin, R., Li, X., & Won, Y. J. (2018). A new yeti crab phylogeny: Vent origins with indications of regional extinction in the East Pacific. PloS one, 13(3), e0194696. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone....

Thurber, A. R., Jones, W. J., & Schnabel, K. (2011). Dancing for food in the deep sea: bacterial farming by a new species of Yeti crab. PloS one, 6(11), e26243. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone....

Rogers, A. D., Tyler, P. A., Connelly, D. P., Copley, J. T., James, R., Larter, R. D., Linse, K., Mills, R. A., Garabato, A. N., Pancost, R. D., Pearce, D. A., Polunin, N. V., German, C. R., Shank, T., Boersch-Supan, P. H., Alker, B. J., Aquilina, A., Bennett, S. A., Clarke, A., Dinley, R. J., … Zwirglmaier, K. (2012). The discovery of new deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities in the southern ocean and implications for biogeography. PLoS biology, 10(1), e1001234. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio....

Thatje, S., Marsh, L., Roterman, C. N., Mavrogordato, M. N., & Linse, K. (2015). Adaptations to Hydrothermal Vent Life in Kiwa tyleri, a New Species of Yeti Crab from the East Scotia Ridge, Antarctica. PloS one, 10(6), e0127621. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone....

Lee, S-H., Lee, W-K., & Won, Y-J. (2016). A New Species of Yeti Crab, Genus Kiwa (Decapoda: Anomura: Kiwaidae), from a Hydrothermal Vent on the Australian-Antarctic Ridge. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 36(2): 238-247. https://doi.org/10.1163/1937240X-0000...

Liu, X., Lin, J., Mendoza, J.C.E. (2024). A new species of the bathyal yeti crab genus Kiwa Macpherson, Jones & Segonzac, 2005 (Decapoda: Anomura: Kiwaidae) from a hydrothermal vent field in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, with a key to the genus. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 44(2): ruae030. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcbiol/ruae030


Outro
The Soundlings - Silent Night (Youtube Library)


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