These are all the same species of crab: research

We often hear of different species that look the same - but what about when one species looks dramatically different depending on where you find it?

Researchers have recently tried to quantify how the need for camouflage can impact how different one species can look depending on where it grew up.

In order to figure this out they looked at the common shore crab, Carcinus maenas. gathering specimens from four sites in the UK.

What they found was that the juveniles tend to be more varied than the adults, and that the more homogeneous their habitats the less diverse the crabs were according to the research they published in Plos One.

This appears to be an adaption to their environments - basically giving them the ability to blend in a little better, however the researchers caution that more work is required to establish that.

Basically what they need to do next is quantify how the much the crabs' markings help them in different environments.

This isn't a trivial task.

"First, the range of backgrounds encountered, with many being underwater or partially submerged, makes quantifying the background challenging.

"We were unable to accurately quantify background appearances in the current work, although this is a major future aim of ours. Second, camouflage needs to be analysed to predator vision, yet crabs are attacked by a wide range of species, especially various bird and fish," the researchers wrote.