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New Purple Crab Species

Four new-to-science crab species have been discovered in The Philippines, on the island of Palawan, and one of them has a beautiful purple shell.










The so-called Insulamon palawanese crab may use its uniquely colored shell to help identify its own kind.










Crabs can discriminate colors. Therefore, it seems likely that the purple coloration is a function for their social behaviour, like when choosing mates.  Though the particular violet coloration might just have evolved by chance, and may not necessarily have a very specific function or reason aside from being a general visual signal for recognition, for other crabs of the species.


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Category: Articles
  • money says:

    This is a great post, thanks!

    06/20/2012 at 2:24 am
