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In Other News
While it’s often the big, enigmatic species that garner all the headlines, sometimes the littlest of creatures can surprise us. Take for instance, the St Piran’s crab (Clibanarius erythropus).
This tiny little hermit crab can be found in the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the Azores to Brittany, and the Channel Islands. And, until about 30 years ago, it could be found as far north as the south Cornwall coast. Unfortunately, the crab went missing from the UK’s south-west shores in the mid 1980’s, a likely victim of coastal pollution and oil spills, and the last recoded sighting was made in Devon in 1985.
Then, last month, over 30 years later, an individual was found, quite by chance, by a rockpooler in Devon's Wembury Bay. This, after another was found in March, in Cornwall, again 30 years after it was last seen in the area.
It appears that, despite everything it’s been through, the St Piran’s crab is making a comeback. And perhaps this is also a sign that the south-west’s marine life has fully recovered from the environmental disaster that was the Torrey Canyon oil spill.
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