Photo: Noémy MOLLARET · Image source ·CC BY 4.0_003.jpeg){kind=link}
Animal profile · Crustaceans · Vent crab
Yeti crab
Kiwa hirsuta
The Yeti crab is a pale, hairy crab discovered near deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Its furry limbs host bacteria that may provide food in this sunless habitat.
Not a fish · an aquatic neighborWater
Saltwater
Hydrothermal vents and nearby deep Pacific seafloor.
Temperature
Range not established
The reviewed sources describe warm vent microhabitats but do not establish a dependable complete wild temperature range, so both values are null.
Size
About 15 cm (6 in) across
About the size of a dinner plate
Lifespan
Not established in the wild.
Life expectancy varies with place, conditions, and what scientists have been able to observe.
01 · Signature adaptation
What does it do?
It clusters densely around hydrothermal vents where warm mineral-rich fluids meet cold seawater. It hides beneath or behind rocks and moves among vent structures.
02 · Home coordinates
Where does it live?
Known from deep hydrothermal vents on the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge at about 2,200 m depth.
Regions: Pacific-Antarctic Ridge · South Pacific
03 · The menu
What does it eat?
It waves its hairy limbs through vent fluids, encouraging bacterial growth, and may also scavenge.
Bacterivore and scavenger: symbiotic bacteria, organic particles, vent detritus.
04 · Remember this
Two wow facts
Bacterial farm
Hair-like setae on its limbs provide surfaces where food-producing bacteria grow.
Sources [2]
Vent discovery
Scientists discovered it as a completely new species and even a new crab family in 2005.
Sources [1]