Columbus Crab | Planes minutus

This is a Columbus crab (Planes minutus), a small oceanic crab that lives on floating objects such as seaweed, driftwood and other debris, or in association with animals such as by-the-wind sailors (Velella velella) or turtles. They can appear in different colors. This one was found together with a mass stranding of thousands of Portuguese man-of-war colonial siphonophores (Physalia physalis) and by-the-wind sailors. The crab was between one and two centimeters.

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Image Size: 8256x5504 / 130.0MB; https://www.photoshelter.com/support/license#rm; https://www.tony-wu.com/contact-tony-wu; Crustacean Columbus Crab Animalia Arthropoda Crustacea Malacostraca Decapoda Grapsidae Planes minutus Planes major Atlantic Ocean South Africa
Contained in galleries: Crustaceans, Marine Life | South Africa

This is a Columbus crab (Planes minutus), a small oceanic crab that lives on floating objects such as seaweed, driftwood and other debris, or in association with animals such as by-the-wind sailors (Velella velella) or turtles. They can appear in different colors. This one was found together with a mass stranding of thousands of Portuguese man-of-war colonial siphonophores (Physalia physalis) and by-the-wind sailors. The crab was between one and two centimeters.