The crab that carries living anemones as weapons and clones them
This crab carries a living, stinging anemone in each claw, and if it loses one it clones the other.
Which one is REALLY true about the Boxer Crab?
The short version
The boxer crab holds a live stinging sea anemone in each claw and waves them at attackers like pom-poms. If it loses one, it tears the remaining anemone in half and each piece regenerates into a whole animal — one of the only known cases of an animal deliberately cloning another species.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Boxer Crab carries a live stinging sea anemone in each claw and waves them at attackers like a pair of pom-poms.
- ✓The Boxer Crab is barely the size of a fingernail, so it lets the anemones do all the stinging for it.
- ✓The Boxer Crab tears its remaining anemone directly in half when it loses one, and each half into a complete animal.
- ✓The Boxer Crab is one of the only creatures known to deliberately clone another species.
- ✓The Boxer Crab carries its anemones along to fresh food as it walks, so the anemones get fed too.
You could line up about 61 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
This tiny crab goes into every fight holding two living weapons. Meet the boxer crab, barely the size of a fingernail, which carries a stinging sea anemone in each claw. When a predator comes close, it waves them like a pair of pom-poms, jabbing with the stinging tentacles until the attacker backs off. The anemones get carried to fresh food, so both sides win. But here is the strange part. If a boxer crab somehow loses one of its anemones, it does not go and find another. It takes the one it still has, tears it directly in half, and each half regrows into a complete animal. It is one of the only creatures known to deliberately clone another species. Follow for more weird animal facts.
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“The Boxer Crab carries a live stinging sea anemone in each claw and waves them at attackers like a pair of pom-poms.”
“The Boxer Crab spins silk into a tube and then cements sand grains, pebbles and snail shells onto the outside of it.”
“The Boxer Crab is barely the size of a fingernail, so it lets the anemones do all the stinging for it.”