Key Takeaways
| Fact | Description |
| Scientific Name | Planes minutus |
| Size | Measuring less than 10 mm (0.4 in) and at most 17.5 mm (0.7 in) in length |
| Habitat | Sargassum weed, floating timbers, ship hulls |
| Distribution | North Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean |
Introduction
The Columbus Crab or also called Planes minutus, is a type of crab that lives in the North Atlantic Ocean. There’s a chance that this is the same kind of crab that Christopher Columbus saw on a type of seaweed called Sargassum in the Sargasso Sea way back in 1492.
Physical Characteristics
The Columbus Crab is a tiny creature, with its shell, or carapace, usually measuring less than 10 mm (0.4 in) and at most 17.5 mm (0.7 in) in length. It has conspicuous eyes in wide orbits at the corners of the wide front edge of the carapace. The first pair of pereiopods (walking legs) bear a symmetrical pair of chelae with cutting teeth. The other four pairs are adorned with spines on the last two segments of each leg.
Coloration and Camouflage
The Columbus Crab has a really cool ability to blend in with the Sargassum weed it often lives on. Its base color is usually brown, sometimes towards yellow or red. It usually supplemented with large patches of white, apparently imitating the calcareous tubes attached by annelid worms to Sargassum. Even though the crab’s color usually matches its home, if it moves to a new home with a different color, it takes a while for the crab to change its color to match.
Distribution and Habitat
The Columbus Crab can be found in the North Atlantic Ocean, specifically range between latitudes of 11° N and 32° N. It also lives off the west coast of Africa, and has been spotted in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Every now and then, people have even seen it on the coast of Cornwall.
The Columbus Crab is exclusively pelagic, inhabiting a wide variety of substrates including Sargassum weed, floating timbers, and even the hulls of ships. It’s often seen with turtles, especially the loggerhead sea turtle, which is also known as Caretta caretta.
Diet
The Columbus Crab has a pretty diverse diet. Here’s a list of what it likes to eat:
- Small fish
- Krill
- Isopods
- Sea skaters
- Squid
Conservation Status
The conservation status of the Columbus Crab is currently not listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This could be due to a lack of sufficient data regarding its population trends and threats.
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