Crustacean · crab

Kairei blind crab

Austinograea rodriguezensis

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

About 2,400 to 3,300 m, on the vents of the Indian Ocean

Size

Carapace a few cm, up to about 5 cm wide in this genus

Diet

Scavenger and small predator, like its close relatives

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• Its eyes are among the most reduced in its entire family of vent crabs.
• It is most abundant right next to black smokers, the chimneys that spew scalding black water.
• It was described in 2002 near the Rodrigues Triple Junction, in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
• It lives in an area explored for its minerals, which could one day threaten its habitat.

Verified sources

1. SeaLifeBase, Austinograea rodriguezensis
2. Guinot & Segonzac 2018, Zootaxa (Ifremer Archimer), révision des Austinograea
3. Tsuchida & Hashimoto 2002, Journal of Crustacean Biology (marineinfo)
4. Biodiversity Data Journal 2021, mégafaune de la zone d’exploration INDEX

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Atlantic vent eelpoutPachycara thermophilum Long-rostrum shrimpAlvinocaris longirostris Methane musselGigantidas childressi (formerly Bathymodiolus childressi) Centenarian tubewormLamellibrachia luymesi Vent octopusVulcanoctopus hydrothermalis Bone-eating snailRubyspira osteovora