They also tested whether crabs would attempt to steal anemones from each other. In fact, as the authors note, "fission" – or, dividing oneself down the middle to create a clone – is "a well-known form of sea anemone asexual reproduction." It's a slow process, and despite the inherently violent nature of one animal tearing another in half, it looks more like a tickling, teasing interaction than a brutal ripping one. The crab's front walking legs teased at the anemone's flesh, tearing it little by little down the center until it broke in two.With the anemone "face" down (its mouth was on the bottom while this happened) and hanging between two claws, the crab slowly began to stretch the anemone.The crab held the single anemone, mouth facing down, and reached across to clutch the anemone with a second claw.In a paper published in the most recent issue of the journal PeerJ, they tested how boxer crabs acquire and maintain those anemones. "For the anemone, it is more unclear."Īnd yet, the two animals are virtually inseparable.įor their research into the relationship, Schnytzer and his team gathered more than 100 boxer crabs, and all had sea anemones on their claws. "For the crab, we can say with almost certainty that the crab is dependent on the anemone," explains lead author Yisrael Schnytzer, who is now at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. The benefit to the anemone is less clear - the crab controls how much food its sea anemones get, maintaining them as small "bonsai" versions. The anemones live on the delicate front claws of the crabs, protecting the claws and helping the crab mop up bits of food. The crabs and anemones have a symbiotic relationship. Researchers have identified the first known example of one animal, a boxer crab, stimulating another animal, a sea anemone, to reproduce asexually.įrom the outside, it's a bit of an abusive situation. A wild-caught Lybia leptochelis crab holding an anemone in each claw.
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