There is a new crab that lives in Sardinia. It was immortalized by the naturalist photographer Marco Colombo along the cliffs of the Porto Conte Park, in the protected marine area of Capo Caccia.

Columbus sighted a large population of this species, Pachygrapsus maurus, whose existence was known in France, Spain, Greece and Turkey.

Its appearance is similar to the greenish crabs of the Pachygrapsus marmoratus species, which are seen running on the piers and rocks, especially in the evening, along the tide line. Pachygrapsus maurus, on the other hand, is a crab characterized by a light green color with black designs, smaller dimensions than its "cousin" and a preference for more conserved habitats.

So far the specimen had never been reported in Sardinia, the news of its discovery was published in the international scientific journal "Mediterranean Marine Science", in an article signed by Colombo himself and by Bruno Manunza, researcher and professor at the University of Sassari.

Scholars find it difficult to establish whether the discovery comes now because the arrival of the crab is actually recent (it can travel attached to driftwood pieces, largely carried by the mistral winds) or whether it has simply gone unnoticed so far, due to the habit of hiding among coralline algae and in dark ravines.

Identified in August 2021, five of these crabs were sampled and identified before being released into the sea and subsequently observed in their natural environment. Here the scholars have ascertained that the Pachygrapsus maurus inhabits almost all the coasts of the protected marine area, from Punta Cristallo to Cala Inferno, even inside submerged caves.

(Unioneonline / L)

© Riproduzione riservata