Invertebrates
Hoff Crab
Kiwa tyleri · also called hairy-chested crab
Clustering by the hundreds of thousands across the seafloor near Antarctic hydrothermal vents, a Hoff crab farms bacteria on bristles covering not just its claws but its entire chest, forming some of the densest animal aggregations known anywhere in the ocean.
Overview
The Hoff crab, Kiwa tyleri, is a bristled crustacean native to hydrothermal vent habitat recorded in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. Its unusually broad chest-bristle bacteria farming, extraordinarily dense vent aggregations, and close kinship with the yeti crab make it one of the most numerically dominant animals found anywhere in vent communities.
A crowd unlike almost any other on the seafloor
While many deep-sea animals live in relative isolation, the Hoff crab bucks that trend entirely, gathering in densities that rank among the highest recorded for any seafloor animal, all crowded around the narrow, chemical-rich zone near an active hydrothermal vent.
Status
Not Evaluated, known only from a limited number of naturally patchy hydrothermal vent sites now of interest for deep-sea mining.
Hoff Crab: common questions
How is the Hoff crab different from the yeti crab?
This species grows dense bristles across its chest as well as its claws and legs, an unusually broad area for bacteria farming compared with its close relative the yeti crab, which concentrates its bristles mainly on its claws.
Why is it called the Hoff crab?
This species earned its common name from researchers who noted a resemblance between its dense chest bristles and the chest hair of a well-known television character, a lighthearted nickname that has stuck in scientific literature.
How many Hoff crabs can gather in one place?
This species forms some of the densest known animal aggregations on the seafloor, with hundreds of individuals per square metre clustered around active hydrothermal vent openings in the Southern Ocean.
Where is the Hoff crab found?
This species is native to hydrothermal vent habitat recorded in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, a colder and more remote setting than many other known vent-dependent crab species.