The decorator crab
The decorator crab, as its name implies, is a species of crab that decorates its body. Its body teis covered with small, bristly hooks on which it hangs pieces of algae, sponges, coral polyps and anemones. The decoration provides it an excellent camouflage. The crab has to redecorate itself everytime it moults as the hooks get lost when the skin is shed.
A species of decorator crab, Libinia dubia, covers itself with pieces of a poisonous brown algae that helps to deter predator fishes. This species does not adorn itself throughout life as other decorative crabs do. It stops as soon as its body grows too big to be eaten by predator fishes.
The decorative crab is related to the hermit crab and is found in North America, from Alaska to Mexico.
