Researchers found a tiny crab on a yellow-bellied sea snake caught off Costa Rica, pointing to a previously unreported open-ocean relationship: crab larvae riding on sea snakes. The sighting came during a 2012 field expedition.
Researchers described the finding in a study published in Ecology and Evolution. Crabs in the genus Planes are known to live near sea turtles’ tails and shells, but earlier reports had not described crabs or other legged animals living on sea snakes.
Marine herpetologist Joseph Pfaller said the crab could easily have been overlooked because researchers might focus on the snake. The snakes’ shedding process also makes traces hard to spot: they twist into knots and use friction from their scales to remove old skin.
