#boxer crab
POM POM CRABS
Lybia tessellata
©Marchione Giacomo
The Pom Pom crab is a cute and mysterious reef safe crustacean. If you’ve ever seen this curious critter, you may wonder what it is dancing for, and what it is holding.
It is actually holding two anemones, Triactis producta, that it uses for defense against predators. If one of the anemones is lost, the crab will split the other anemone in half and it will grow into another full size anemone.
Pom-pom crabs wave their anemones back and forth to let predators know it is not a defenseless little crab. Their Pom Poms, in addition to their cheerleader- like motions suggests how these decorative crabs got their name. Source
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Photo by Stefano Scortegagna |Info
Lybia tessellata is a species of small crab in the family Xanthidae. It is found in shallow parts of the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean. Like other members of the genus Lybia, it is commonly known as the pom-pom craborboxer crab because of its habit of carrying a sea anemone around in each of its claws, these resembling pom-poms or boxing gloves. It is a small crab growing to a width of about 2.5 cm (1 in) and is found in shallow water in the tropical Indo-Pacific region;
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