SINGAPORE: A hermit crab, a shiny-eyed shrimp and a crab with fuzzy spines are among over a dozen new species discovered in a deep-sea expedition off the Indonesian island of Java, scientists said.
The team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) carried out the expedition for 14 days between March and early April.
The area covered included a long stretch of the Indian Ocean off Java’s southern coast as well as the Sunda Strait that separates the island from Sumatra.
“This is a part of the Indian Ocean that has been never been sampled for deep-sea animals so we really didn’t know what to find,” said Peter Ng, a crab expert and head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at NUS.
“We were very surprised by the findings,” he said on Thursday, adding that the team had expected to discover creatures from the Indian Ocean and the surrounding areas already known to scientists.
But the discovery of species entirely new to science “tells us that there are things happening in that part of Indonesia that we don’t know,” said Ng, who co-led the expedition.
The researchers examined 63 sites as they sailed from Jakarta to Cilacap town in southern Java and back.
Three new species of spider crabs were discovered during the expedition, the scientists said in a statement.
One of them had a plate protecting its eyes which resembled oversized ears while another was bright orange in color.
Another discovery was a new species of hermit crab with bright green eyes, according to Indonesian scientist Dwi Listyo Rahayu, also a crab expert and the expedition’s co-leader.
One new species of shrimp had shiny eyes that reflect light, the scientists said.
Ng, the NUS professor, said the scientists will carry out a detailed study of the more than 12,000 creatures from 800 species they had picked up on the expedition and publish their findings in 2020.
They expect to discover more new species as they go along, he said.
The reason they immediately identified the new species of crabs, prawns and lobsters is that the scientists involved are experts in this field, he added.
Fuzzy crab, shiny-eyed shrimp discovered on Java expedition
Fuzzy crab, shiny-eyed shrimp discovered on Java expedition
KFC readies finger-licking Japanese Christmas
- The first KFC Christmas campaign was in 1974 and there are different theories about the origins
TOKYO: KFC in Japan is gearing up for the Christmas tradition of millions of families thronging the US fast-food chain for special festive buckets of deep-fried chicken and other treats.
“Reservations for KFC Christmas typically begin around the beginning of November,” Takuma Kawamura, a KFC marketing manager, told AFP at a new upmarket pop-up eatery in Tokyo.
“From that time, stores with the Col. statue will dress him in Christmas attire,” he said, referring to KFC’s late founder Col. Sanders, a widely recognized figure in Japan.
Japan has a tiny Christian majority and Christmas is a secular festival of full-bore consumerism complete with Santa, gifts and streetlights. Couples often go on dates on Christmas Eve.
For food, families often gorge themselves on special “Party Barrels” bursting with chicken, an array of side dishes and a dessert — such as ice cream or cheesecake — stored at the bottom in a separate compartment.
December 24 — Christmas Eve — is KFC Japan’s busiest day by far, with 10 times more customers than normal, the firm said in 2020. Reportedly 3.6 million families make orders.
The first KFC Christmas campaign was in 1974 and there are different theories about the origins.
These include that Takeshi Okawara, the manager of Japan’s first KFC outlet, overheard foreigners pining for turkey, which is often eaten at Christmas in Britain and the United States.
Col. Sanders, who died in 1980, has also entered into baseball folklore in Japan.
Hanshin Tigers supporters threw a plastic statue of the Col. from a KFC restaurant into a river in Osaka in 1985 on their way to winning Japan’s version of the World Series.
This was because fans — many of whom also jumped in the dirty Dotonbori waterway — thought the statue resembled Randy Bass, an American member of the team at the time.
But the dunking spawned the legend of the “Curse of the Colonel” that said the Tigers would never win another title until the effigy was recovered.
The sludge-covered statue was dredged out in 2009, cleaned up and put on display, but it took until 2023 for the Tigers finally to win the championship again.
The plastic Col. was finally disposed of last year following a ritual at a temple attended by KFC’s Japan president, who offered sake and fried chicken.
