A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Fish & Invertebrate sightings and descriptions, hosted by resident NWDC ID expert Janna Nichols (nwscubamom).
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dphershman
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A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by dphershman »

I found this 'scaled crab' Placetron wosnessenskii at hornby island on a night dive last weekend. Very cool! this is a relative of king crabs that I've never seen in Puget Sound before.


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Kind of an unusual find for even southern BC. At least according to Rob and Amanda at Hornby Island Diving.

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LCF
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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by LCF »

One has been living in the crossed pilings in Cove 2 for about a year or so. I have several very bad pictures of him. He's quite skittish. Your pictures are lovely.
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Dusty2
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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by Dusty2 »

Might be a different type but we do have scaled crabs in the sound. That one does seem pretty large but of course I don't have anything to reference to be sure. The ones I have seen are fairly small.
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Greg Jensen
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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by Greg Jensen »

Same beast that we have here. Not common in Puget Sound proper, but easy to find in Anacortes/San Juans/Victoria etc.
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Scubie Doo
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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by Scubie Doo »

LCF wrote:One has been living in the crossed pilings in Cove 2 for about a year or so. I have several very bad pictures of him. He's quite skittish. Your pictures are lovely.
Lynne, here is the one from Cove 2. This was taken on 10/25. :) As you mentioned, this thing was pretty shy. When I saw it, I definitely knew I hadn't seen one before.

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Jan K
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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

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They are quite common at Keystone, especially at night.
Very nice photos Dan !
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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by Penopolypants »

I tried taking a picture of one several years ago but was thwarted by the cloud of silt he kicked up while speeding away. I've never seen a crab move that fast! They are lovely crabs and I'm always excited to see one. Those photos are fantastic!
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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by dphershman »

Jan K wrote:They are quite common at Keystone, especially at night.
Very nice photos Dan !

Thanks everyone!

this fellow was quite large and fast... I got off a couple of shots before it scooted into a crevice. When I showed the picture to Amanda at Hornby Island Diving she said that she hadn't seen these before in their area. (I got lucky).

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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by LCF »

This is an image I got when I corner the Cove 2 guy inside of a piling. I'd guess he's 12 or 14 inches across the legs, maybe a four or five inch carapace.

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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by dphershman »

LCF wrote:This is an image I got when I corner the Cove 2 guy inside of a piling. I'd guess he's 12 or 14 inches across the legs, maybe a four or five inch carapace.
Great shot! He's about the size of the one I saw in BC. I don't know why I haven't seen on at Cove 2 before, I've certainly done my share of night diving there. Just goes to show that if you don't know what to look for, you often don't see it.

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Re: A very cool 'Scaled Crab' discovery

Post by LCF »

The first one I ever saw, I saw on the rock fingers off Bainbridge Island. I was struck by the striped appearance of the legs, and how big the crab was, so I came home and searched through my books until I was pretty sure I knew what he had been. Since then, I've been pretty keyed in on those patterned legs, and I've seen them in a number of places, but never as many as in the eelgrass at Pt. Hudson.
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