Marine Biologists Discover a Crab Eating Frozen Gas

We’ve seen crabs doing weird thinks, like decorating themselves, but this is definitely on a new level.

During an expedition led by MBARI Senior Scientist Peter Brewer that was exploring methane gas deposits at a depth of 1,260 meters off the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, scientists noticed something unusual. A crab was leisurely devouring what seemed to be frozen gas, bubbling up from the seafloor.

A closer inspection confirmed that methane hydrate, a solid ice of methane, was forming on the seafloor when the crab attempted to ‘eat’ the bubbles. This was the first time a science team observed a deep-sea crab interacting with naturally occurring methane, giving us an example of how organisms living on the seafloor might interact with naturally occurring hydrocarbons under the extreme pressure and cold temperatures found at these depths.

At one point, however, the crab seemed to have changed his mind, regretting tasting the strange dinner.

With the help of their remotely operated submarines, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have already given us amazing insights into what’s going on in the deep seas, including the first ever footage of an anglerfish and the extremely elusive ghost shark, a rare video of the barreleye fish, which has a transparent head and tubular eyes, never-before-seen footage of a mysterious giant ‘phantom’ jelly, and the first ever video of the extremely elusive ghost shark. The video of the gas-eating crab is a worthy sequel to this series.

Thanks guys and keep up the good work!