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Crabs endure a hellish setting — with help from friends

Crustaceans lean on bacteria to detoxify the sulfur belched by shallow-water hydrothermal vents.
A Xenograpsus testudinatus crab hiding near a sulphur-rich crevice of a hydrothermal vent system

The Xenograpsus testudinatus crab thrives near hydrothermal vents that emit sulfur-laden water. Credit: Yung-Che Tseng

The geothermally heated water that gushes forth from hydrothermal vents on the sea floor presents an ecological challenge. There’s energy locked in the chemical bonds in the hydrogen sulfide with which the water is heavily laden. But hydrogen sulfide is also extremely toxic to most living things.

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Nature 613, 416 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00035-y

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 11 January 2023: An earlier version of the standfirst with this article stated incorrectly that the brachyuran crabs found to rely on bacteria live at deep-sea vents.

References

  1. Chou, P.-H. et al. Proc. R. Soc. B. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1973 (2023).

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