New crab species discovered in Namibia

A new crab species was discovered by a Sapanish research team off the coast of Namibia.

The discovery team consistsed of scientiests from the Oceanographic Centre of Cadiz of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO). The lithodid crab was captured 1,400 metres beneath Namibian ocean waters. 

This finding took place during an oceanographic survey aboard the vessel Vizconde de Eza, a governmental vessel of Spain. 

This crab has a great deal of similarities with its congener Paralomis pectinata, inhabiting the waters in Venezuela.

IEO experts named this new crab Paralomis macphersoni after Enrique Macpherson, a taxonomist who is an expert of decapod crustacean groups.

All the species found during research surveys are part of the Collection of Decapod and Stomatopod Crustaceans of the Oceanography Centre in Cadiz, which brings together more than 2,000 specimens of about 400 species caught mostly in African waters in Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Namibia and Mozambique, the IEO reported.

The Institute is dedicated to research in marine science, especially in relation to scientific knowledge of the oceans, the sustainability of fishery resources and the marine environment.