Immersed in a dreamy aura as if just waking up from a nap, the tiny pink crustacean pup has become a social media sensation thanks to its big black eyes and head covered in straight spine-like hairs. The researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) captured it on video by chance during a research campaign in the Gulf of Mexico.
In just a few days, the video has amassed over 10 million views on the X platform alone and has already inspired dozens of drawings and cartoons posted by Noaa online.
The star of the show is none other than a pup of the Neolithodes agassizii species. These crustaceans are commonly known as royal crabs even though they aren’t exactly crabs: they walk on six legs instead of eight and are descended from an ancient hermit crab that shed its shell about 25 million years ago. They typically reside between 200 and 1,900 meters deep. As adults, their central bodies can reach 12 centimeters in length, so the one in the video, perched on a hand’s finger, is definitely a pup.
The specimen was inadvertently caught in August 2024 by Noaa researchers while collecting coral samples in the Gulf of Mexico: they found it attached to a plastic bag which it likely mistook for a sea pig, another curious crustacean that small royal crabs often hitch a ride on at the ocean floor.
You guys really loved our little crab … like, really loved it. So much that you even made fan art!
Check out some of the amazing renditions of our favorite little underwater creature. pic.com/9dMivEcoNk
— NOAA Fisheries (@NOAAFisheries) January 17, 2025
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