Sargassum Swimming Crab

Portunus sayi

• Group: Crab

Rather than a fixed home reef, this swimming crab rides drifting mats of sargassum weed across the open sea, its mottled colours blending into the floating fronds. Its flattened back legs work as paddles, letting it swim between rafts of flotsam.

Taxonomy: Animalia › Arthropoda › Malacostraca › Decapoda › Portunidae › Portunus

Species data via the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), AphiaID 1061759.