This amazing hairy creature is an Orangutan crab. These little critters (about an inch or so long) reside on bubble coral; this one was found in Lembeh Straits, North Sulawesi, Indonesia -- the critter capital of the world. They are a rare find, and very skittish. It's even more rare to have them pose like this in calm and clear water. You can really get a sense of how it got its name in this picture, with it's bright orange "hair" flowing. They, like their namesakes from Borneo, are very much at-risk due to pollution and other man-made environmental damage. We humans don't realize how many amazing creatures we're impacting. Perhaps if we saw more of these critters up close, we'd think more about how to stop polluting the oceans, air and earth. Taken with a Nikon D70 and a Nikkor 60mm macro lens, Ikelite underwater housing and Ikelite DS50 substrobes, f11 @ 1/160 sec.
2 responses
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! Slimeface said (25 May 2008):
Cool shot and very interesting!
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John White said (24 Nov 2008):
very cool shot, i agree with you that more people need to have a chance to see animals like this up close.
