Main content
Pom pom crab
Anemones that are carried by the crab are half the size of free living ones. They also lack pseudo-tentacles around the column, something other anemones use to photosynthesise. This suggests that they鈥檝e evolved symbiotically.
More about the anemone/crab relationship:
- Crabs usually use their pincers to tear food apart, but for pom pom crabs this would mean having to put down their anemones, so instead they use their first pair of walking legs to move food to their mouths.
- If the crab loses one anemone it splits the remaining one in two and clones it.
- Having said that, the three types of anemone that the pom pom crabs use can live independently, so it suggests that there is less benefit to the anemone than there is to the crab.
In addition to helping the crab get food, the anemones are also useful in defence against predators or rivals of their own kind due to their stinging cells. However if they do fight, it is a ritualised fight. They don’t contact each other with the anemones due to the risk of being wounded, and the risk of damaging the anemones.
