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Animalia >Arthropoda >Malacostraca >Decapoda >Majidae >Micippa >

Many marine invertebrates are known to attach algae, sponges, and bryozoans on their body surface. This behavior is called decorating behavior, and is especially common among spider crabs.
Once a crab finds a suitable alga, it cuts off a piece using its claws, makes the piece fuzzy by chewing it, and then attaches it to the carapace. The carapace surface is covered with hook-shaped hairs, and algae are firmly attached to these hooks (in the same principle as Velcro fastening). When a crab fails to attach algae to the carapace, it chews the algae again and repeats the sequence. It seldom throws away a collected decorating material after just one trial. The first half of the video shows a crab in back view whereas the latter half shows a crab in a side view. Decoration is perpetually lost through the death of decorating organisms or through mechanical abrasion, and a crab puts decoration as needed. All decoration is lost upon molting. Hence, decorating behavior is most intense right after molting.

(Data No.momo010825mp01b)

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