by Agata Blaszczak-Boxe, Contributing Writer | March 19, 2015 07:06am ET
The mystery of the origin of two strange-looking species of "vampire crabs" is finally solved. The crabs come from the island of Java in Indonesia, according to the scientists who officially describe the species in a new report.
Vampire crabs owe their name to their spooky appearance, as they have bright-yellow eyes contrasting sharply with purple or orange abdomens.
People in the aquarium trade have known of the two crab species described in the report for at least a decade, said Peter Ng, a biology professor at the National University of Singapore and an author of the report. Ng said he saw the crabs for the first time in aquaria in Singapore, where the crustaceans were being sold as pets.
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