Watch These Crabs Tear Their Living "Pom-Poms" to Shreds
Transcript
What does a pom-pom crab do if it loses one of its “pom-poms?”
The pom-pom crab holds a sea anemone on each claw, earning its nickname.
The stinging anemones likely help the crabs fend off predators.
New research shows that a pom-pom crab without an anemone will steal one from another crab.
Both crabs will then split their single anemone into two, one for each claw.
Within days, the anemone fragments will regenerate into clones of the original.
It’s the first known case of one animal stimulating another to reproduce asexually.
