Spider crab re-discovered after 99 years
August 25th, 2011 - 9:03 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattThere are only 13 recorded sightings of the creature. The sighting of the animal has drawn interest from several people.
Aquarium curator Matt Slater stated that, “As soon as Dan brought it to us we knew it was something a little out of the ordinary. However despite scouring all our reference books and checking with colleagues at other sites we weren’t able to identify it. It was only after we got in touch with Dr Gainey that we were able to discover what it actually was.”
Slater said it was not surprising that they were not able to identify the creature. Most of the sightings of the creature were recorded during the Edwardian and Victorian times.
The animal is tiny – about the size of the thumbnail – and they are brightly colored. The animal was caught in the summer by a group of fishermen led by Dan Gilbert.
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Tags: blue reef aquarium, colleagues, curator, fishermen, gainey, london, reference books, scientists, sightings, spider crab, thumbnail, victorian times, water creature