Summary

This Spiny King Crab came from a depth of ~2500 meters in the East Gippsland Commonwealth Marine Reserve during the 'Sampling the Abyss' expedition. In the deep sea red colours actually look black, so this crab would have used its colour to hide, and its sharp spikes to protect itself as it moved across the seafloor looking for food. This specimen was one of the stars of 'World Ocean Day' when scientists on board revealed it to Australian school children in a live cross from the RV Investigator. It was also featued on a coin in the 2023 Royal Australian Mint Creatures of the Deep Coin Program.

Specimen Details

  • Taxon Name

    Neolithodes bronwynae

  • Author and date of publication

    Ahyong, 2010

  • Preferred Common name

    king crab

  • Date Identified

    20/10/2017

  • Identified By

    Dr Shane Ahyong - Australian Museum (AM)

  • Number Of Specimens

    1

  • Sex

    Male

  • Specimen Nature

    Nature: Whole, Form: wet, Fixative treatment: ethanol 80%, Medium: ethanol 80%

  • Expedition Name

    IN2017_V03 - Sampling the Abyss

  • Collected By

    O'Hara et. al IN2017 V03 abyss Marine Invertebrates Team

  • Collection Event Code

    IN2017 V03 035

  • Sampling Method

    Beam Trawl - CSIRO Four Metre

  • Date Visited From

    25/05/2017 1:16 PM

  • Date Visited To

    25/05/2017 2:33 PM

  • Depth To (m)

    2581

  • Depth From (m)

    2338

  • Category

    Natural Sciences

  • Scientific Group

    Invertebrate Zoology

  • Discipline

    Invertebrates

  • Collecting Areas

    Invertebrates

  • Type of Item

    Specimen

Taxonomy

Geospatial Information

  • Site Code

    IN2017 V03 035

  • Country

    Australia

  • State

    Victoria

  • Precise Location

    East Gippsland CMR

  • Latitude

    -37.792

  • Longitude

    150.382

  • Geodetic Datum

    WGS84

  • Georeference Protocol

    data provided with specimen(s)

  • Georeference By

    Dr Alan Williams - CSIRO