EMBARGO: June 24, 2015 11 AM Pacific / 2 PM Eastern
First species of Yeti Crab found in Antarctica
Up to 700 crabs per square meter may reside around
hydrothermal vents
The first species of Yeti Crab from hydrothermal vent systems
of the East Scotia Ridge in the Southern Ocean, Antarctica, has
been described in a study published June 24, 2015 in the openaccess journal PLOS ONE by Sven Thatje from University of
Southampton, and colleagues.
The species of Yeti crab Kiwatyleri belongs to an enigmatic
group of squat lobsters, known as Kiwaidae, that thrive in the
hot waters surrounding the geothermally heated
hydrothermal vents. It is the dominant species at these sites,
occurring at extremely high densities exceeding 700 specimens
per square meter.
This Yeti Crab is famous for its body, which is densely covered
by bristles, known as setae, and bacteria, giving it a fur-like
outer appearance. This appearance is advantageous as it
allows the crab to harvest the dense bacterial mats that
overgrow the surfaces of vent chimneys, which it depends on
for food from chemosynthetic bacteria.
For most of its life, Kiwatyleri is trapped within the warm water environment of the vent chimney and is
unable move between vent sites due to the nearly freezing water in between. Females carrying eggs only
move away from vent chimneys, and into the surrounding polar deep-sea, in order to release their larvae;
these would, otherwise, not survive the warmer temperatures of the adult habitat.
Crabs and lobsters, which are a characteristic of the global oceans, show an extremely low species number
in polar seas. Hydrothermal vent systems found in the Southern Ocean do present a unique warm-water
refuge to Yeti Crabs.
Dr Sven Thatje says: “The Antarctic Yeti Crab is trapped in its warm-water hydrothermal vent site by the cold
polar waters of the surrounding deep-sea. The species has adapted to this very limited sized habitat – of a
few cubique metres in volume – by occurring in highly-packed densities and by relying on bacteria they grow
on their fur-like setae for nutrition.”
Adapted by PLOS ONE from release provided by the author
In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available
paper:http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127621
Contact: Sven Thatje, [email protected], ph +44 (0)2380-596449
Citation: Thatje S, Marsh L, Roterman CN, Mavrogordato MN, 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. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0127621
Image Credit: Thatje et al.
Funding: This work was supported by a NERC (UK) Consortium Grant (NE/D01249X/1; ChEsSo), as well as a
grant from the Total Foundation (Abyss2100) to Sven Thatje.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.