Page 79 - (DK) Super Shark Encyclopedia: And Other Creatures of the Deep

PUT ’EM UP!

BOXER CRAB

Here is a crab that is no bigger than your thumbnail,
but what it lacks in size it makes up for in nerve. It clasps
a miniature stinging anemone in each pincer and holds
them out like a pair of pom-poms or boxing gloves.
Should any predator come too close, the boxer crab
waves the anemones about, and the stings help keep
the danger away. But carrying anemones also has its
problems. The crab cannot use its pincers to break up
food. Instead it nibbles on plankton that sticks to the
anemone’s tentacles. When two boxer crabs meet, each
makes a show of waving their pom-poms in a pretend
fight, but they rarely make physical contact.

AT A GLANCE

• SIZE ⁄8–1 in (1–2.5 cm) shell width
3
• HABITAT Coral reefs
• LOCATION Tropical coastlines

• DIET Tiny animal plankton, collected
with its anemone pom-poms

“Some boxer crabs UNDER STATS AND FACTS
1

use their anemones LENGTH OF PINCER ¼ ½ ¾ 1
in
SEC
BOXING SWIPE TIME
to brush food cm 1 3 ⁄8–¾ in (1–2 cm) 3
2

DIAMETER OF POM-POM
off rocks” in 1 ⁄16 1 ⁄8 3 ⁄16 1 ⁄4

1 cm 0.25 1 ⁄8– ⁄16 in (0.25–0.5 cm) 0.75
0.5
MAX. TIME FIGHTING
3

MINUTE
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