Discovered in the deep: the mini cities of hairy-chested Hoff crabs

Hoff crabs live in the deep ocean around scorching hydrothermal vents, also known as black smokers. Photograph: Courtesy of School of Biological Sciences/University of Portsmouth

In 2005, scientists exploring more than a mile underwater south of Easter Island in the south Pacific, found odd-looking white crabs with long, hairy arms. They named them yeti crabs.

Several years later, in 2010, onboard a research ship in the Southern Ocean, surrounded by icebergs, fin whales and penguins, another science team contemplated the deep-sea crabs they had just found 2,500 metres beneath the surface. These were a variety of yeti crab, ranging from thumbnail- to fist-sized, but rather than having hairy arms they had luxuriant hairy chests.